Fox again pushes falsehood that Kagan barred military recruiters

Fox host Scott falsely claims Kagan decided “to keep military recruiters off Harvard Law's campus when she was dean there.” On the June 25 edition of Fox News' Happening Now, co-host Jon Scott stated that in her upcoming Senate confirmation hearings, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is “going to have to address is her decision ... to keep military recruiters off Harvard Law's campus when she was dean there.” Correspondent Shannon Bream reported that “Kagan did initially bar military recruiters from using the Office of Career Services because of her opposition to Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” but neither she nor Scott noted that during the one semester that Kagan did so, students had access to military recruiters through the Harvard Law School Veterans Association."

From the June 25 edition of Fox News' Happening Now:

SCOTT: It seems clear one of the hottest issues she's going to have to address is her decision, Shannon, to keep military recruiters off Harvard Law's campus when she was dean there.

BREAM: Jon, you're right. From the time she was announced as the nominee, that's the Number 1 thing that seems to percolate up. While dean, Kagan did initially bar military recruiters from using the Office of Career Services because of her opposition to Don't Ask, Don't Tell. She called that, quote, “a moral injustice of the first order.” It's something a number of GOP senators, including the Judiciary Committee's top Republican, Jeff Sessions, say she's gonna have to explain.

Reality: Harvard law students had access to military recruiters throughout Kagan's tenure as dean

Military recruiters never barred from campus under Kagan. Throughout Kagan's tenure as dean, Harvard law students had access to military recruiters -- either through Harvard's Office of Career Services or through the Harvard Law School Veterans Association. Kagan became dean of Harvard Law in June 2003. Upon becoming dean, she continued the previous dean's policy of granting the military an exception to Harvard's nondiscrimination policy and allowing the school's Office of Career Services (OCS) to work with recruiters. In accordance with Harvard's existing nondiscrimination policy, she barred the school's Office of Career Services (OCS) from working with military recruiters for the spring 2005 semester after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled that law schools could legally do so. During that one semester, students still had access to military recruiters via the Harvard Law School Veterans Association.

During the fall 2005 semester, after the Bush administration threatened to revoke Harvard's federal funding, Kagan once again granted military recruiters access to OCS.

Harvard's data show that Kagan's actions did not hurt military recruitment. Kelly's claim that Kagan's actions “hampered” military recruitment at Harvard is contradicted by data Media Matters obtained from Harvard Law School's public information officer. The prohibition on Harvard Law's OCS working with military recruiters existed during the spring 2005 semester, meaning that it could have affected only the classes of 2005, 2006, and 2007. However, the number of graduates from each of those classes who entered the military was equal to or greater than the number who entered the military from any of Harvard's previous five classes.

Fox News' has pushed military recruiters falsehood throughout Kagan's nomination

Hannity, Baier and other Fox personalities have repeated the false claim about Kagan and military recruiters. Since Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court, Fox News personalities, including Sean Hannity (many, many, many times), Bret Baier, and Megyn Kelly, have advanced the falsehood that Kagan “barred recruiters” or “kick[ed] military recruiters off of campus” when she was dean of Harvard Law School.