Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday he opposes the nomination of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court.
McConnell, R-Kentucky, said in a statement that he does not have "confidence that if she were confirmed to a lifetime position on the Supreme Court she would suddenly constrain the ardent political advocacy that has marked much of her adult life."
McConnell's comments came after Kagan's appearances this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The panel is expected to vote on President Barack Obama's selection in mid-July and a Senate floor vote is likely by early next month.
Republicans Orrin Hatch of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also said they'd vote against her. However, Democrats control 58 Senate seats, and Kagan's confirmation is expected.
McConnell said in Kagan’s testimony this week she acknowledged that it is "'difficult to take off the advocate's hat and put on the judge's hat.'
"That difficulty is particularly acute for someone like Ms. Kagan, who has spent so much of her adult life practicing the art of political advocacy rather than practicing law," McConnell said.
McConnell said Kagan failed to provide the Senate will helpful testimony and was "far from forthcoming" about her views on constitutional law.
"For example, she refused to repudiate her alarming position in the Supreme Court that the federal government can ban core political speech if it dislikes the speaker, including speech with a long and venerable history in our country, like political pamphlets," McConnell said.
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