Without a judicial record to analyze, Elena Kagan's views on constitutional issues are something of a mystery, with perhaps more indirect than direct evidence at hand. What we do have are documents from her time in the Clinton White House – years that brought the passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the release of new federal guidelines on religious expression in schools and in the workplace – as well as her brief current tenure as Solicitor General. Taking all of that into account – and there is every indication that Kagan was involved in policy discussion on religious liberty issues – the Baptist Joint Committee's K. Hollyn Hollman offers an evaluation of her church-state record in advance of Supreme Court confirmation hearings set to begin next week.
Here is a snippet from the conclusion:
Importantly, Kagan has worked on both free exercise and no establishment issues, and, in many instances, cooperated with a variety of religious organizations representing a diversity of views, including the BJC. While her prior experience reveals little, if anything, about her actual views on religious liberty law and policy, it shows significant attention to discussion and debates about the developments in free exercise and no establishment law. Our review of the Kagan record raises no red flags.
Read the whole thing.
