The Wrong Choice For Solicitor General

by Tom Chambers
Letter to the Editor in the Daily Local

In July 2007, I wrote a Letter to the Editor that was subsequently published regarding Education institutions and the military. The purpose of my letter was to address the problem regarding the banning of ROTC programs and military recruiting on college campuses, particularly including many of our more elite universities including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Brown, Dartmouth, etc. Quoting further from this letter: The disdain shown the military on many campuses by the banning of ROTC programs over the past decades is well documented, and the military’s recruiting efforts have fared no better.

Now in 2009, there is the potential that a nominee for the position of U.S. solicitor general, Elena Kagan, a Harvard Law School dean, may be appointed by President Obama and, if so, it would be a travesty for all who believe in and support our military.

Dean Kagan has called military recruiting “discriminatory,” “deeply wrong,” “unwise,” and “unjust.” This nominee for solicitor general believes the military should be banned from campus. Kagan fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate a federal law known as the Solomon Amendment, denying qualified students the opportunity to serve our country and infringing upon their constitutional rights.

For those not familiar with the Solomon Amendment, this law was passed in 1995 and signed by former President Clinton and, in essence, denies schools that bar military recruiters from campus any funds from the Department of Defense. The following year in 1996, Congress extended the law’s reach to include funds from the Departments of Education, Labor and Health & Human Services.

In 2002, the Solomon Amendment was strengthened further by interpreting it to require revocation of federal grants to an entire university’s subdivisions (its law school, for example). In 2005, Congress amended the law to explicitly state that “military recruiters must be given equal access to that provided other recruiters.

Believe it or not, and you can believe it because it is a fact, this possible appointee to the critical position of U.S. solicitor general, Elena Kagan, stood at the forefront of the fight against the Solomon Amendment. Kagan filed amicus briefs with the Third Circuit Court and the U.S. Supreme Court to try to justify institutional discrimination against the military. Fortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down this argument. The court stated that the Solomon Amendment gives universities a choice: either allow military recruiters the same access to students afforded any other recruiter or forgo certain federal funds.

The question is – how can anyone with the established anti-military record of Kagan, a nominee who was labeled by the Washington Times as an “anti-military zealot,” be considered for such an important post as U.S. solicitor general? And since it is the primary responsibility of the U.S. solicitor general to see that the laws of the United States are enforced, how could Dean Kagan serve in this capacity when it comes to defending a law, the Solomon Amendment that she thinks is immoral and says she doesn’t believe in?

As a candidate for president, Barack Obama, in his remarks at the Service Nation Presidential Forum, Columbia University, Sept. 11, 2008, stated that the notion that young people anywhere, in any university, aren’t offered the choice, the option of participating in military service, I think is a mistake. Agreed.

And if Elena Kagan is eventually appointed as our U.S. solicitor general, it will be a huge mistake! It is hoped that Kagan’s appointment will never see the light of day. God bless our military for all their sacrifices on our behalf!