Elena Kagan will make history in a number of ways if and when she becomes a United States Supreme Court justice. If the president's new nominee is confirmed, there will then be three Jewish justices and six Catholics on the court, and for the first time ever, there would not be any Protestants on the nation's highest court.Let's discuss this and more with our Senior Political analyst, Gloria Bourger and David Gergen. David's a Harvard where Kagan got her law degree, later served as the Dean of the Harvard Law School.
And David, I know you know her, for many years. On this issue of religion, is it a big or little deal there won't be any Protestants on the court if she's confirmed?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, 30 years ago it would have been a big deal, Wolf. As you know, historically the court has been a Protestant readout and over time there was a Jewish seat, like Louis Brandeis and others, and Catholic seat and the likes.
That was at a time when your religion identified you. And I think it's a milestone in the country's history that religion has now been trumped in our day by gender. It's been much more important, I think, to most people that Elena Kagan will be the third woman on the court. Far more important than what her religion is.
BLITZER: It will be a very diverse court, as we point out, David, because there not only be Yale Law School graduates, but there will be Harvard Law School graduates as well. All justices either went to Harvard or Yale Law School.
GERGEN: I think that's also a remarkable thing and I'm not sure that's wise, by the way. Six of them went to the Harvard Law School, including Elena Kagan. Three went to Yale. One, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, stayed at Harvard, then went on to Columbia to complete her legal education. But that does not mean, Wolf, that there will be nine Ivy League law school graduates on the court, and from that point of view, I don't think that's enough diversity. I think many would like to see broader reach. Very good law schools. I'm proud both of them, even so, I think that's less diversity than we like over time.
BLITZER: Spoken by someone who went to -- I believe Duke Law School, is that right?
GERGEN: No, I went to Harvard.
BLITZER: Went to Duke undergraduate.
GERGEN: No, I went to Yale undergraduate.
BLITZER: You did. Never mind.
GERGEN: So my loyalty --
BLITZER: Not exactly someone from the heartland.
GERGEN: No. But that's why I think -- I don't think these Ivy schools have a monopoly in wisdom. There are a lot of other good schools around the country.
BLITZER: Gloria, let me read to you something she wrote way back when on the confirmation mess, because these words will no doubt come back to haunt her during her confirmation hearings right now. She was saying that the Supreme Court confirmation process should be like Robert Bork's were, remember how feisty and how much he was willing to express his own personal views.
Subsequent hearings, she later wrote, are presented to the public a vapid and hollow charade, in which repetition of platitudes has replaced discussion of view points and personal anecdotes of supplanted legal analysis. Those words were come back to haunt her.
GLORIA BORGER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: They will. Those of us who have covered the Supreme Court hearings have sympathy for what she wrote. As you know, after the Borque hearing, the nominees have basically said, I agree with legal precedent and refuse to answer many substantive questions.
So now that she has written this and I will tell you, Wolf, that in the rest of the piece she said that these kinds of hearings just reinforce the kind cynicism we have in this country about the confirmation process. But already Republicans are talking about what they call the Kagan standard, which Dana Bash mentioned earlier.
It's very clear from talking to these Republicans and looking at their press releases today, they are going to hold her to that standard, and try and push her. But already, during her confirmation process, as solicitor general, we've seen she's kind of backed off this and said that was when I was younger. When I was a staffer on the Judiciary Committee.
Remember, Joe Biden put her on the Judiciary Committee to help with the Ginsburg confirmation process, and I was a little bit frustrated then.
BLITZER: You were over at the White House today.
BORGER: I was.
BLITZER: Is there any area that their nervous about that could come up? BORGER: Well, you know, it's very clear that you're going to be talking about the Harvard issue and the question of taking those military recruiters off of the Harvard campus, which she was then forced to put back after a legal decision, and I think that's something Republicans are going to pursue.
They're also clearly going to pursue this. When I asked David Axelrod, a Senior Adviser to the president today, about this so-called Kagan standard, he said, funny, but Conservatives weren't complaining about this, weren't articulating the Kagan standard when we had Justices Alito up for confirmation and Roberts up for confirmation. So clearly, they are starting to back away from that.
BLITZER: He's going to be here in the "Situation Room," David Axelrod. Quickly, David, the whole issue of not allowing the U.S. military to recruit on campus. You've been there at Harvard for a long time. Is the Supreme Court unanimously saying she was wrong?
GERGEN: Well, Wolf, first of all, an excellent dean here at the law school. So Charles, a solicitor general under President Reagan, a strong conservative mind harks written very glowingly about her time, and broadening the spectrum on the Harvard light and took a left- leaning law school and did strengthen the faculty including strong conservative hire.
So she was widely acclaimed by faculty and students alike. On this issue, it's hard to convey to people how toxic on many college campuses the military standard of don't ask, don't tell is. Once we get rid of that, then the military's going to be welcomed, I think, on these campuses.
Until then, this issue is, is much more of a stumbling block on inviting in military r recruiters. She stood up for principle but had to compromise in some ways to prevent the university from losing tons of money. That's when Larry Sommers was president.
BLITZER: David Gergen, thanks very much. Gloria Borger, thanks to you as well.
Transcript from CNN's The Situation Room Aired May 10, 2010