NAACP lends support to Kagan
WASHINGTON — The NAACP gave its backing Saturday to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, expressing confidence in President Barack Obama’s pick after early hesitation that she might not be a forceful defender of civil rights.
The nation’s oldest and largest civil-rights group voted unanimously at a board meeting in Florida to endorse Kagan, in line to succeed retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.
The NAACP’s president, Benjamin Jealous, said that the group initially was concerned because Kagan, who never served as a judge, had little direct evidence or a record that she would actively promote civil rights. Many were worried that she might have an overly expansive view of executive power at the expense of individual liberties, and the group also had hoped to see a black woman appointed to the high court.
The National Action Network and its board of directors also endorsed her nomination. The Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the organization, said Kagan “is worthy of the support of the civil-rights community.”
Kagan, 50, has received some support from conservative groups because of her efforts to reach across ideological divides, including the recruiting of conservative professors while she was Harvard Law School dean.
Clinton library urged to release Kagan material
WASHINGTON — The White House asked Bill Clinton’s presidential library on Saturday to speed the release of more than 160,000 pages of paper, including e-mails, in its possession from Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan’s tenure as a Clinton adviser in the 1990s.
In a letter to the U.S. archivist, White House counsel Bob Bauer said he was requesting the expedited release to aid the Senate’s review of Kagan’s nomination.
