WASHINGTON — A senior House Democrat says senators should fully question Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan to make sure she supports abortion rights.
New York Rep. Louise Slaughter leads the House Pro-Choice Caucus. Slaughter views as “troubling” — her word — a 1997 memo Kagan wrote urging then- President Bill Clinton to back a ban on late-term abortions.
Slaughter wrote to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and the panel’s ranking Republican, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, on Tuesday.
She said the lack of a judicial record for Kagan, who has never been a judge, makes it imperative that the committee scrutinize her abortion views.
Kagan was a domestic policy adviser to Clinton when she wrote the memo Slaughter cited.