WASHINGTON — For several grueling hours each day, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan sits at a witness table, facing a phalanx of questioners grilling her about constitutional law, her views of legal issues and what qualifies her to be a justice. They are not polite.
It’s all a rehearsal for Kagan’s big performance next week during her confirmation hearings at the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The “murder boards” are elaborately planned sessions where Kagan hashes out answers to every conceivable question and practices staying calm and poised during hours of pressure and hot television lights.
About 20 members of President Barack Obama’s team play senators, peppering Kagan with tough questions designed to trip her up or elicit an unscripted response. Kagan practices being herself. She works to avoid handing her opposition the sound bite that could derail her so-far smooth trajectory toward confirmation.
On Tuesday, liberal and conservative former solicitors general going back 25 years endorsed Kagan for the Supreme Court. In a letter, 10 lawyers named by Republican and Democratic presidents to represent the government before the Supreme Court said Kagan would serve there with distinction. The group included noted conservatives Ted Olson and Ken Starr, the prosecutor who investigated President Bill Clinton while Kagan served in his administration.
