Transparency?: Clinton library unlikely to provide documents in time for Kagan's Confirmation hearing

Why the rush on Kagan? Can't they wait until Kagan's record is available before the confirmation hearing?

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday set June 28 as the start date for hearings on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, and asked the Clinton presidential library to turn over voluminous documents related to Kagan's time as a top presidential assistant in the 1990s.

But Terri Garner, director of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, said in an interview Wednesday that it would be "very difficult" for her facility to meet the deadline. She said the records request is overly broad and "too general in scope" and that, under the Presidential Records Act, attorneys for both Clinton and President Obama have the right to read and review each document before it is released to the committee.

"There are just too many things here," she said. "These are legal documents and they are presidential records, and they have to be read by an archivist and vetted for any legal restrictions. And they have to be read line by line."

Kagan, currently U.S. solicitor general, served in the Clinton White House as an associate counsel to the president in 1995 and 1996 and as deputy assistant for domestic policy from 1997 to 1999. . . .