WH asks Clinton library to release Kagan papers

[Casino67]

AP:

WASHINGTON — The White House on Saturday asked Bill Clinton's presidential library to speed the release of more than 160,000 pages of paper, including e-mail, in its possession from Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's tenure as a Clinton adviser in the 1990s.

In a letter to the U.S. archivist, White House counsel Bob Bauer said he was requesting the expedited release to aid the Senate's review of Kagan's nomination. Kagan currently is the U.S. solicitor general.

Kagan has never been a judge and has only appeared in court as a litigant since becoming solicitor general, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer. As a result, she has not created a lengthy paper trail of court opinions and legal briefs that lawmakers typically examine to assess a nominee's legal acumen or ideology.

Republican lawmakers seeking clues about what kind of justice Kagan, 50, would be are eager to see the papers. With its request Saturday, the White House stood ready to help make that happen as soon as possible.

The library, run by the National Archives, was expected to release Kagan's papers this summer.

Kagan served in the Clinton White House from 1995-1999. She would succeed retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

Bauer requested records from her service as an associate counsel, approximately 30,000 pages; records from her service as a domestic policy adviser, approximately 50,000 pages; and records related to her nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The Senate never acted on that nomination.

Bauer also requested all e-mail Kagan sent and received, approximately 79,000 pages.

Of the batch of documents, Bauer wrote that "their availability, on an expedited schedule, is necessary to afford the Senate a reasonable opportunity to evaluate Ms. Kagan's nomination."
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I am sure the committee will get the papers days before the nominee appears before the committee. I can't believe Clinton is going to allow much to be released. He has too much to hide.