Kyl: Lack of Experience OK for Solicitor General Spot, But Not for High Court « The Washington Independent

Last year, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) was one of seven Republicans to approve Elena Kagan for the solicitor general spot that she currently holds. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he will be supporting her for the Supreme Court promotion. He told Fox News this morning why that’s the case:

“I made it clear that for the temporary position of solicitor general, a position that she might hold for a matter of maybe four years at most, that I could overlook her relative lack of experience and lack of knowledge about her background. And in fact, we could see how well she’d do in that position to judge her for a more permanent one,” Kyl said.

“This is a lifetime appointment now that the president has nominated her for, and she is quite young and not quite 50 years of age. She could serve on the Supreme Court for 30 or 40 years theoretically. And so it is important for to us have a good understanding of her background that we really didn’t delve into so much during the confirmation process as solicitor general.”

Expect more of this from the other six.