It’s Elena Kagan’s nature to see the other side of an argument. When she worked on President Clinton’s White House Domestic Policy Council, she routinely pointed out the Republican point of view or flagged dissent to make sure that all the bases were covered as they rolled out changes to child care, abortion, gays serving in the military and other policies. According to friends, colleagues and recently released documents from the Clinton Library, she was always questioning the White House position to make sure the president was on solid ground when discussing and writing policy.
“She wasn’t a person who felt we were right no matter what,” said Neera Tanden, who worked alongside Kagan in the late 1990s. Tanden is now with the Center for American Progress after spending a year at the Obama White House.
In an interview, Tanden told me Kagan would always send notes to colleagues with questions such as “Are we right or are they right?” “Do they have a point?” and “What’s our answer to this?” Others remembered Kagan as being among the first to raise the criticism coming from Republicans on Capitol Hill.
TPM has reviewed memos and documents released Friday that paint a picture of Kagan’s work ethic and style in communicating with her colleagues in the administration. The documents back up what colleagues said about Kagan. The 46,700 pages of emails and memos released by the Clinton Presidential Library included printouts of newspaper columns, with, for example, notes from Kagan asking if that viewpoint had been considered.
In one example after a long debate about child care, Kagan helped to plan a “unity” event with the key players, but was still jotting down questions about making sure everyone’s concerns were addressed.
Another nugget we found in a batch of documents about contraception coverage was a David Broder column on the issue. Kagan wrote another staffer a note about the piece which you can see below.
Tanden talked about Kagan’s role in crafting a $20 billion child care package and increasing adoption rates, and said that Kagan helped steer her colleagues toward including tax credits for stay-at-home parents after considering alternative views outside the White House.
“She made us think about the conservative critique,” Tanden said. In the case of the tax credits, “she made sure we could address concerns of opponents, as well as have a package that our allies and supporters like.”
The documents can be found here. Her confirmation hearings begin June 28. Read our Kagan coverage here.
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