Laura Bush sounded like a woman first and a Republican second on Sunday when she voiced support for President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan.
"I think it's great," she told Fox News' Chris Wallace. "I'm really glad that there will be three [women on the court] if she is confirmed. I like to have women on the Supreme court."
In supporting Kagan, the former first lady stands apart from many other Republicans who have begun to muster a campaign against Kagan.
Earlier on Sunday, former House speaker Newt Gingrich called on the president to withdraw Kagan's nomination, saying she's unfit to be on the Supreme Court because of her opposition to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays and because of her efforts to keep military recruiters out of Harvard Law School when she was dean there.
And in an interview with NBC's Meet the Press, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) argued that Kagan is an unfit candidate because she believes in banning books. The Hill reports:
McConnell pointed to the argument Kagan's office made before the Supreme Court in Citizens United vs. FEC, a controversial campaign finance case."Solicitor Kagan's office in the initial hearing argued that it would be OK to ban books," McConnell said. "And then when there was a rehearing Solicitor Kagan herself in her first Supreme Court argument suggested that it might be OK to ban pamphlets....
In the case in question, Chief Justice John Roberts asked the government lawyer whether the law in question could also prevent the publication of a campaign-related book, if it was paid for be a corporation or labor union.
“If it's a 500-page book, and at the end it says, 'and so vote for x,' the government could ban that?� Roberts asked. Kagan's deputy, Malcolm L. Stewart, said yes.
Although Politico reports that some civil rights groups are uncertain of Kagan's nomination -- because of her lack of a record defending civil rights -- the NAACP, the country's most influential African-American group, endorsed Kagan this weekend.
This video is from Fox's Fox News Sunday, broadcast May 16, 2010.
