On Capitol Hill, Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court justice nominee Elena Kagan begin today. If confirmed, Kagan would become the first justice in nearly forty years with no judicial experience. Several prominent civil rights organizations have expressed concern over Kagan’s diversity record. As dean at Harvard Law School, Kagan made thirty-two tenured and tenure-track academic hires. Of these thirty-two, only one was a minority, and only seven were women. The National Bar Association, the main organization of black lawyers, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law have decided not to take a position on Kagan’s nomination. She has received the backing of the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. On Sunday, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions suggested the Republicans may try to filibuster her nomination.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.): “Will she, as a judge, subordinate herself to the Constitution and keep her political views at bay? And then, secondly, if things come out that indicate she’s so far outside the mainstream, it’s conceivable a filibuster might occur.”

On the same program, Senate Judiciary Committee chair Patrick Leahy dismissed the Republican criticism about President Obama’s nominee.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT): “It’s reached the point that if [Obama] had nominated Moses the law giver, some would have said we can’t have him because, among other things, he hasn’t produced a birth certificate.”