FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, August 5, 2010

Isakson Votes No on Kagan Nomination to U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today made the following statement following his vote against the nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court:

"It is a serious responsibility that we have as members of the Senate to advise and consent on the nominations of the President of the United States. Two things in Ms. Kagan's past concern me greatly in terms of the direction she would go as a Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

"One is Ms. Kagan's support of a ban on military recruiters while at Harvard University. The first responsibility designated to this Congress and to this government is to protect and defend the domestic tranquility of the people of the United States of America and to constitute an army and a navy to do that. At a time today where everyone who serves in our military is a volunteer, the information about the opportunities, the availability and the promise of a career in the military or a period of service should not be denied anyone who goes to an institution that receives funds from the United States of America and from this Congress.

"Secondly, it is obvious, in her expression and her arguments before the Supreme Court in the Citizens United case, that Ms. Kagan felt that the government could restrict political speech. The first amendment is the guarantee of free speech. To argue a case that, notwithstanding the first amendment, political speech could be run by the government and judged by the government and its timing and its accessibility, to me, flies in the face of the first amendment.

"I believe a qualified judge is one who understands the value and the strength and the power of the Constitution of the United States of America, who will rule based on the law, and who will not legislate through activist judicial decisions. I do not believe Ms. Kagan's record has met this standard."

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