Institute for Public Accuracy
30 June 2010
While Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has been extensively questioned in her hearings about her tenure as dean of Harvard Law School regarding military recruiters on campus, her role in a controversy involving charges of plagiarism against Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz (as well as other plagiarism scandals which erupted while she was head of HLS) has been virtually ignored.
On Tuesday, when Sen. Jon Kyl asked about her basic approach to judging, Kagan said: “My deanship was a good example … the kind of consideration that I’ve given to different arguments, the kind of fairness that I’ve shown in making decisions.” At 15:20 on YouTube video.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said of Kagan that there is “no reason to question her integrity.” But some analysts question whether Kagan showed the capacity to rule fairly, which is required of a good judge, in the Dershowitz plagiarism case.