lune 30.2010______________ ,_______________ pottiani»
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Pase 5
Obama Nominee Defends Record
Court pick on
way toward
confirmation
(A P) -- C hallenged bluntly by
R epublicans, S uprem e C ourt n o m i­
nee Elena K agan said T uesd ay the
P entagon's recruiters had access to
H arvard Law School students "ev­
ery single day I w as dean" and re­
je c te d claim s she m aneuvered to
thw art them .
"I'm ju st a little taken aback by the
tone o f your rem arks b ecause it is
unconnected to reality," retorted
Sen. J e ff Sessions o f A labam a, the
first R epublican on the S enate Ju d i­
ciary C om m ittee to question P resi­
dent B arack O bam a's choice for the
high court in public.
Said K agan: "I respect and in­
deed I revere the m ilitary."
T he exchange cam e near the b e­
ginning o f a full day o f question in g
by m em bers o f the panel, w hich w ill
vote first on K agan's appointm ent
to succeed retiring Justice John Paul
Stevens. B arring a m ajo r gaffe, the
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Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan testifies Monday before the
Senate Judiciary Committee.
50-year old O b am a ad m in istratio n
solicitor general appears w ell on her
w ay tow ard co n firm atio n in tim e to
take h er seat before the court opens
a new term in O ctober.
D em ocratic Sen. Patrick Leahy o f
V erm ont, the com m ittee's chairm an,
w as first to broach the m ilitary re­
c ru itin g co n tro v ersy , raisin g the
issue that R epublicans had often
cited in p re-h earin g criticism o f
K agan.
m e a rn a w
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"I've o n ly cried once d u ring this
process," K agan said, recalling her
reaction to an op -ed article praising
h er for h er treatm ent o f the m ilitary,
a co m m en tary w ritten by a M arine
c a p ta in a n d 2 0 0 8 g ra d u a te o f
H arvard Law.
T he hearings turned testy w hen
S essions retu rn ed to the issue o f
the m ilitary's p resen ce at H arvard
Law School, and a co n tro v ersy that
arose w hen she blocked recruiters
» « ¡«
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b
Gore Implicated in Sex Scandal
4
(A P) — Portland police say they
investigated allegations that form er
V ice President A1 G ore had "un­
w anted sexual contact" w ith a m as­
sage therapist during an O cto b er
2006 visit, but they found insu ffi­
c ie n t e v id e n c e to s u p p o rt th e
w o m a n ’s claim s.
M u ltn o m a h C o u n ty D is tric t
A tto rn e y M ic h a e l S c h ru n k said
a n a t t o r n e y r e p r e s e n t i n g th e
w o m a n c o n ta c te d p o lic e in late
2 0 0 6 . S c h ru n k said th e w o m a n
re fu s e d to be in te rv ie w e d by d e ­
te c tiv e s an d d id n 't w a n t th e in ­
v e stig a tio n to c o n tin u e .
B ut the w o m a n c o n ta c te d p o ­
lice in J a n u a ry 2 0 0 9 an d g a v e a
sta te m e n t, sa y in g G o re trie d to
h a v e sex w ith h e r d u rin g a m a s ­
sag e a p p o in tm e n t at th e u p sc a le
d o w n to w n H o tel L u c ia . G o re re ­
p o rte d ly w as re g is te r e d a t th e
h o te l as “ M r. S to n e .”
G ore fam ily spokesw om an K alee
K reider said the form er vice p resi­
dent had no com m ent. G ore and his
i—
The National Enquirer was first
to report accusations against
former Vice President Al Gore.
w ife an n o u n ced June 1 they w ere
sep aratin g .
T he N ational E n q u irer first re­
ported the allegations fast W ed n es­
day, identifying the accu ser as a 54-
y ear-o ld w om an. H er nam e has not
been released.
A police report prepared in 2007
said the alleged incident happened
ODhsewer
Established 1970
USPS 959-680 ___________________________________
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211
on Oct. 24,2006. G ore was in Portland
to give a speech on clim ate change.
A c c o rd in g to th e re p o rt, the
w om an canceled appointm ents w ith
detectiv es on Dec. 21 and 26 o f that
year. H er atto rn ey can celed an o th er
m eeting set for Jan. 4 ,2 0 0 7 , and said
the m atter w ould be handled civilly.
“This case is exceptionally cleared
as (the w om an) refuses to cooperate
w ith the investigation or even report
a crim e,” the report states.
T he case w as reo p en ed in Jan u ­
ary 2009 after the w om an contacted
police. D etectives interview ed her
bu t d eterm in ed there w as in su ffi­
cient ev id en ce to support the alle­
gations, P ortland police said in a
new s release.
In a transcript o f the interview
released by p o lice, the m assag e
th erap ist said she w as doing re­
quested abdom inal w ork on G ore.
She claim ed he started to m oan,
d em an d ed she go low er, and later
g rab b ed h er hand and shoved it
to w ard his pubic area.
from the career services office.
Pentagon's representatives w orked
S he has sa id sh e a c te d b e c a u se through the veterans office on cam ­
the m ilita ry 's "d o n 't ask , d o n 't tell" p u s.
p o licy , w h ich b ars o p en ly gay m en
K agan also sparred at length w ith
a n d w o m e n fro m se rv in g , w as a Sen. Jon Kyi, R -A riz., w ho had said
v io la tio n o f the u n iv e rs ity 's a n ti- o n M o n d a y th e la te J u s tic e
d is c rim in a tio n ru le s. A n d th a t as T h urgood M a rs h a ll, the first A fri­
an a lte rn a tiv e , she e n c o u ra g e d a can-A m erican Suprem e C ourt Ju s­
c a m p u s v e te ra n s g ro u p to fa c ili­ tice, w as a ju d icial activist. W hen
ta te th e P e n ta g o n 's re c ru itm e n t o f K yi's turn cam e to question K agan,
s tu d e n ts .
he said she had w ritten g low ingly o f
Sessions disp u ted K agan's v er­ the m an for w hom she once clerked,
sion o f events, saying that for one and he asked w hether she w ould
recruiting season "you gave them tend to ju d g e cases in a w ay that
(the P entagon) the runaround. ... w ould protect the rights o f the dis­
Y ou've co n tin u ed to p ersist w ith a d v an ta g e d .
this view that so m eh o w there w as a
" If y ou confirm m e, you'll get
loophole in the statute that H arvard Justice K agan, you w on't get Ju s­
didn't have to com ply w ith."
tice M arshall," she said. She added
K agan gave no ground, co u n ter­ that the "glory o f the courts" is
ing that "m ilitary recruiting w ent up accessib ility to all, and after that,
th a t y e a r , n o t d o w n ," w h e n the C onstitu tio n rules.
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