Page 4 - Solomon Amendment News Today

Treating them as second class citizens, bat giving them equal access because you deeply opposed that policy. why wouldnt you complain to congress and not to the dutiful men and women who put their lives on the line for america every day? >> senator session, youre of course right that the solomon amendment is law, passed by congress >> how much i honored everybody who was associated with the military, on the harvard law school campus. all that i was trying to do, was to ensure that harvard law sc...

Slide by, this is my opinion and this is your opinion it doesnt make any difference. there are true facts here. i would say that it raises questions. i dont think she helped herself with that testimony today. >> but do you think that -- your version, let us say, and agree with you and stipulate that your version is correct. >> yeah. >> is that enough to keep her off the supreme court? >> it raises additional questions in my mind. i didnt expect this kind of testimony. i didnt think that she woul...

Military. who might very much want to do that most honorable kind of service that a person can do for her country. >> thats a legitimate concern and people can disagree on that and i respect your view on that, im having difficulty with why you would take the steps of treating the military in the second class way to speak to rallies and send out e-mails, and to immediately, without legal basis, because the solomon amendment was never, at any time, not enforced as a matter of law, why would you do...

Meeting, and in addition to that a lawsuit was filed in a different circuit, the third kir suggest -- circuit, and you participated in the filing of a brief attacking the dont ask dont tell policy, is that correct? >> senator sessions, thats not quite correct. the lawsuit itself brought a constitutional challenge to the dont ask dont ask tell to the solomon amendment. we did not participate in that challenge. what the brief that i filed did do was to argue, try to argue, that harvards accommodat...

Rule, 2-1, questioning the constitutionality of the statute, you immediately, the very next day, changed the policy at harvard and barred the military from the office of career services, the equal access the solomon amendment had required, is that correct? >> senator sessions, after the third circuit ruled the solomon amendment unconstitutional and the third circuit was the only appellate court to have issued a decision on that question and did rule the solomon amendment unconstitutional, i thou...

Forth between senator sessions and elena kagan, bret baier joins us from washington, at one point senator sessions said she had given the military the run around at harvard and suggested she didnt revere the military, to which she was quite opposed and said that was not the case at all. >> reporter: thats right and senator leahy offered her the ability to kind of wrap up her comments, about the military, and her support of the military, at the end, but senator sessions was getting to the point a...

School could also comply with its anti-discrimination policy, a policy that was meant to protect all of the students on our campus, including the gay and lesbian students who might very much want to serve in the military, who might very much want to do that most honorable kind of service that a person can do for her country. >> i would think that thats a legitimate concern, and people can disagree about that, and i respect your view on that. what im having difficult with is why you would take th...

Because we have always tried to be in compliance with the solomon amendment. thought that we were. when dod had long held that we were, when dod came back to us and said no, notwithstanding the third circuit decision, we maintain our insistence that youre out of compliance with the solomon amendment, we said okay. >> well, in fact, you were punishing the military. the protest that you had, that you spoke to on campus, was at the very time in the next meeting, or one or two buildings nearby, the ...

Compliance with the solomon amendment and for many, many years dod disagreed with us. after the third circuit, i thought it was appropriate to go back to our role of policy which previously dod thought had complied with the solomon amendment. when dod said, no, the third circuit hassant changed matter because were going to take this to the supreme court and we want law schools to ignore what the third circuit said, we had some discussions and we went back to doing it exactly the way dod wanted t...

You said that at that meeting much and in addition to that a lawsuit was filed in a distant circuit, the third circuit and you participated in the filing of a brief attacking the dont ask, dont tell policy is that correct? >> senator sessions that is not quite correct. the lawsuit itself brought a constitutional challenge to the dont ask -- the solomon amendment. we did not participate in that challenge. what the brief that i filed did do was to argue, try to argue that harvards accommodation, w...