Top GOP Senator says Kagan Violated Law Over DADT

by Susan Marie Kovalinsky | May 16, 2010 at 09:27 am

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Republican Senator Jeff Sessions who is part of the US Senate Judiciary Committee has told ABC News on "This Week" that when Elena Kagan was dean of Harvard Law, she violated law by prohibiting military recruitment on campus due to her belief that "don't ask , don't tell" was unfair policy. The Senator has called it "no small matter".

Patrick Leahy (Dem-Vermont), Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, dismissed the argument as "sound and fury signifying nothing."

When the Supreme Court ruled that a law tying federal funding of schools to military recruiting was constitutional, Kagan allowed on-campus military recruiting to resume so the school wouldn't lose funding. Asked about the issue by host Jake Tapper, Sessions, R-Ala., said, "This is no little-bitty matter, Jake. She would not let them come to the area that does the recruiting on the campus. They had to meet with some student veterans, and this is not acceptable. It was a big error.

The controversy is regarding Kagan's decision to prohibit military recruiters on the law school's campus. The sole reason was that Kagan stated that the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy - which does not allow gays to stay in the US armed services if they identify as gay - was in her judgment, in direct violation of Harvard Law School's anti-discrimination policy.

Sessions argued that Harvard had begun to allow recruitment again, and that Kagan took it upon herself to reverse this process.