Page 5 - Solomon Amendment News Today

And after dod came to us and after dod told us that it wanted law schools to essentially ignore the third circuit decision that it was going to take that decision to the supreme court and that it wanted law schools to continue to do what they had been doing. we did change back and we did precisely what dod asked us to do and dod never withheld -- >> well, you did not, ms. kagan, you didnt do what the dod asked you to do. just answer this, put your legal hat on for a second. the third circuit opi...

Required. congress, frankly, was very frustrated at the lawsuits. we passed four or five versions of the solomon amendment to get around every maneuver that occurred on the campus. now, is it, in effect, the mandate or the injunction never issued by the third circuit that the third circuit holding did not apply to harvard at the time you stopped complying with the solomon amendment and isnt it a fact that you were acting in violation of harvards agreement and the law when you reversed policy? >>...

Says that the air force and the army say they were blocked and stonewalled and getting the run around by harvard. by the time they had realized that you actually changed the policy, that recruiting season was over and the law was never not in force. i feel like you mishandled that. im absolutely confident you did but you continue to persist with this view that somehow there was a loophole in the statute that harvard did not have to comply with. after congress had written a statute that would be ...

Because we have always tried to be in compliance with the solomon amendment. i thought that we were when dod, 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 are punishing the military. they protest that they have that you spoke to on campus was that on the very time the next building or one or two buildings nea...

But after the third circuit 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 amend unconstitutional and the third circuit was the only appellate court to have issued a decision on that question and did rule the solomon amendment ...

Calling for at least 12 years experience in the practice of law. and they mean actual practice of law like former justices rehnquist and powell. not only is ms. kagans background unusual for a supreme court nominee it is not how she demonstrating a keen understanding how the law affects the lives of the american people. ms. kagans experience draws from a world whose sign posts are distant from most americans, manhattans upper west side, princeton, harvard, and upper reaches of the democratic leg...

Some of the issues with our candy crowley on cnns "state of the union." >> you dont think at this point, you dont see any signs of a republican filibuster? >> i would say its premature. we know she has expressed hostility to second-amendment rights, saying she wasnt sympathetic to the arguments of gun owners when she clerked for chief justice or justice thurgood marshall. we know that on a number of areas, the hot-button issues of the day shes been very much involved in refusing to allow militar...

School. >> they did haveccesso udentshrough militaryroups and veterans group associated with campus. my questi is,o you think as some republicans have suggested, she has radical views about the military? or do you think ats an overstatemenand unfair? >>look, i dont know. all we kw is the issue with regard to solomon amendment. i think thecoittee ought to look into it. heecorset be deveped. >> leme turn to the issue of the bp oil spill which the esident was quite angry about after the appearae by...

Unbelievable problem that our great universities were denying the military the right to come on campus. it was a long battle. it was controversial even at harvard. when she became dean, they were allowed to come on campus. the law was being enforced. later it was challenged and she at various points unlawfully stopped the military from coming on campus, even though the law was still in force. eventually she filed two briefs attacking the law. one in the supreme court that was rejected 8-0 by the...

Treatis. this is advising president clinton how to thread the needle between one abortion bill and an amendment and what he should do in order to get cover when the senate passes a different bill. so i look at this as analogous to what she did at harvard when the whole solomon amendment military recruiters came up. shes just a really good tactician. shes a great strategist. now if she -- you expect her to be bill brennan and fling up her arms and say, i quit. but for the right of women to choose...