Clinton Era Emails Show Kagan Practical on Video Game Laws

Around 11,000 e-mails - written by and to Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan - were released late last week by the Clinton Presidential Library. The e-mails paint an interesting picture of President Obama's pick for the Supreme Court, particularly when it came to violent video games.

Kagan apparently helped draft the language in a response to the Senator Joseph Lieberman - sponsored bill to ban the sale of violent video games to children. The response conveyed "strong doubts" on its constitutionality of the law, which the Clinton White House ultimately opposed. From Politico:

"The Administration…opposes an expected amendment to ban the distribution of certain violent material to teenagers,” the language Kagan submitted in connection with a 1999 juvenile crime bill said. "A broad prohibition of this kind on the sale or exhibition of violent materials would raise very serious First Amendment concerns – so much so that the drafters of the provision have included expansive loopholes that insofar as they mitigate the constitutional problems would render the provision, in critical respects, virtually impossible to apply or enforce."

One would assume that this was Kagan's position on the law as well, given that she helped draft said language and offered legal counsel to the White House. If lawmakers manage to confirm Kagan in the next few months before their summer recess, the California video game law will be one of the first issues she would deal with this fall or in early 2010 after she is seated.

Source: Politico