The first dump of documents from Elena Kagan’s years in the Clinton Administration came out this afternoon, and already her true colors on a host of hot-button political topics are starting to show through. She helped outline an “aggressive strategy” to push gun control measures through Congress before Republicans and the NRA could object; argued that a federal law banning assisted suicide was “a fairly terrible idea;” urged President Clinton to submit legislation banning reproductive cloning but permitting cloning of human tissue, including embryos; and recommended spending $400 million on climate change issues. As more and more of the documents are sifted through – and if estimates are right there should be at least 120,000 more pages on the way – look for the nominee Ed Whelan called “the blankest slate” to take on the decidedly clearer tones of a committed liberal. The documents show a politically savvy Kagan, and bring to the fore the question of whether she would be able to set aside her deeply ingrained political instincts to evenhandedly apply the law.
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