Kagan Witnesses Begin Testimony in Today’s Hearing

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee finished hearing directly from Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan yesterday, after 17 hours of question-and-answer sessions. Now they’ve begun to hear from witnesses — some will praise her, some will rake her across the coals.

Here is the witness list from the committee’s website:

Panel I

Majority Witnesses

Lilly Ledbetter — Plaintiff, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire

Jack Gross — Plaintiff, Gross v. FBL Financial Services Inc.

Jennifer Gibbins — Soundkeeper/Executive Director, Prince William Soundkeeper

Minority Witnesses

Captain Flagg Youngblood — United States Army (ret.)

Captain Pete Hegseth — Executive Director, Vets for Freedom
Army National Guard

Colonel Thomas N. Moe — United States Air Force (ret.)

Panel II

Majority Witnesses

Professor Jack Goldsmith — Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Captain Kurt White — President, Harvard Law Armed Forces Association
Army National Guard

Professor Robert C. Clark — Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, Austin Wakeman Scott Professor of Law, and former Dean,
Harvard Law School

Gregory Garre — Partner, Lantham & Watkins, Former Solicitor General of the United States

Minority Witnesses

Ronald Rotunda — The Doy & Dee Henley Chair and Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence, Chapman University School of Law

Robert Alt — Senior Fellow and Deputy Director, Center for Legal and Judicial Studies
The Heritage Foundation

Ed Whelan — President, Ethics and Public Policy Center

Professor Stephen Presser — Raoul Berger Professor of Legal History, Northwestern University School of Law

Panel III

Kim J. Askew, Esq. — Chair, American Bar Association, Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary

William J. Kayatta, Jr. — First Circuit Representative, American Bar Association, Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary

Majority Witnesses

Professor Ronald Sullivan — Edward R. Johnston Lecturer on Law, Director of the Criminal Justice Institute, Harvard Law School

Marcia Greenberger — Founder and Co-President, National Women’s Law Center

Justice Fernande “Nan” Duffly — Associate Justice, Massachusetts Court of Appeals, on behalf of the National Association of Women Judges

Minority Witnesses

Dr. Charmaine Yoest — President & CEO, Americans United for Life

Tony Perkins — President, Family Research Council

Commissioner Peter Kirsanow — Benesch Law Firm

David Kopel — Research Director, Independence Institute

William J. Olson — William J. Olson, P.C.

This is the portion of a confirmation hearing when a Supreme Court nominee can sometimes face the most trouble — Anita Hill’s testimony during the Clarence Thomas 1991 confirmation hearings comes to mind. Kagan could potentially hit some bumps in the form of testimony surrounding her dealings with military recruiters while she was dean of Harvard Law School. There are witnesses for both the Democrats and the Republicans who will testify on this issue.