Top Judiciary Republican: Summer vote for Kagan ‘doable,’ but ‘thin’ record a weakness

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Top Republican: Summer vote for Kagan ‘doable’

WASHINGTON — The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee says he’ll do his best to prepare for a midsummer vote on confirming Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the next Supreme Court justice.

Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions says President Barack Obama’s timetable for a vote on Kagan’s nomination by early August “should be doable,” although unexpected circumstances could develop to slow it down.

Sessions says Kagan’s lack of experience as a judge doesn’t disqualify her from sitting on the nation’s highest court, but it’s a weakness.

He won’t rule out the possibility that Republicans could unite to block a vote on confirming Kagan, saying most of them believe such measures should be only for “extraordinary circumstances.”