WASHINGTON — Documents released Friday portray Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan as a key figure in the Clinton White House, crafting its approach on hot-button issues such as abortion, gun control and campaign finance regulation.
But they appeared, at least initially, unlikely to hand Republicans a significant weapon to use to imperil her nomination.
The 46,500 records arrived as the first of three releases expected this month from the Clinton Library in Arkansas, detailing Kagan’s four-year tenure in the White House as a lawyer and adviser to President Bill Clinton.
For the bulk of that time, Kagan helped manage a staff of domestic policy experts. The majority of the memos, e-mails and reports made public Friday provide little insight to her own views.
Instead, they offer a more detailed picture of a pragmatic strategist dedicated to advancing Clinton’s largely centrist policy aims. For example, one memo shows Kagan urging the president to support a compromise on a congressional ban of the so-called partial-birth abortion procedure.
Kagan worked with Clinton to explain his nuanced position on the bill. She helped draft a 1997 letter from the president to Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston in which Clinton detailed his support for both the bill and for an exception to the ban that safeguarded the health of the mother.
“The procedure may well be used in situations where a woman’s serious health interests are not at risk,” Kagan appeared to hand-write in draft form for Clinton’s signature. “But I do not support such uses, I do not defend them and I would sign appropriate legislation banning them.”
She possibly signaled her own views on the subject in highlighting a passage from a magazine article that urged more insurers to cover the cost of contraceptives in a bid to cut down on the number of abortions.
Kagan may, however, be more vulnerable on gun rights. The memos show she was routinely updated on the progress of gun-control initiatives such as a ban on the importation of semiautomatic weapons and closing the so-called gun show loophole.
She was briefed on the progress of municipal lawsuits such as the city of Chicago’s action against the firearms industry. She attended meetings on the Brady law, which requires background checks of gun purchasers.
Gun-rights groups such as the National Rifle Association had expressed concerns over Kagan’s views on the Second Amendment before the document release, and the new set of memos could exacerbate their concerns.
Kagan also was part of a White House effort to regulate spending in federal election campaigns, an issue that is likely to take center stage in her confirmation hearing after the Supreme Court this year swept away federal restrictions on corporate expenditures in elections.
