don t ask, don t tell law that you opposed so much there. and time now to take a look at the morning papers. we re going to start with usa today. coalition service members killed in afghanistan topped 100 in june. the war s highest monthly toll. now comparable to some of the deadliest months fighting in iraq. general petraeus warned the violence could escalate as they continue to push them from their strongholds. and america is not paying attention. the washington post living soldier gets medal of honor to a living soldier. the soldier whose name is not revealed ran through a wall of enemy fire in afghanistan valley
it sounds good to me, at least. coming up as well, the hearings for supreme court nominee elena kagan, the topic of our late night laughs, two hosts, you get to decide who did it best. we begin with jimmy kimmel. please enjoy the elena kagan supreme court justice confirmation hearing moment of the day. the don t ask, don t tell law that you oppose so much there. and jimmy kimmel s best effort, now david letterman weighs in on elena kagan. so far the woman has offered very few opinions. my god, how do you find a woman
how she would approach cases as a supreme court justice. but that s not how the day started. republicans launched their first missile at what they call elena kagan s most vulnerable target. you are punishing the military. reporter: trying to block military recruiters while dean of harvard law school, in part because of the pentagon s ban on gays serving openly. i do oppose the don t ask, don t tell law. and you did then. and i did then. reporter: with a sharp barrage of questions gop senator jeff sessions accused kagan of violating the law an denigrating the military. you were taking steps to treat them in a second-class way, not give them the same equal access because you deeply opposed that policy. reporter: kagan defended what she called a difficult balance. we were trying to do two things. we were trying to make sure that military recruiters had full and complete access to our students
kagan s most vulnerable target. 7 you are punishing the military. reporter: trying to block military recruiters while dean of harvard law school, in part because of the pentagon s ban on gays serving openly. i do oppose the don t ask, don t tell law. and you did then. and i did then. reporter: with a sharp barrage of questions gop senator jeff sessions accused kagan of violating the law an denigrating the military. you were taking steps to treat them in a second-class way, not give them the same equal access because you deeply opposed that policy. reporter: kagan defended what she called a difficult balance. we were trying to do two things. we were trying to make sure that military recruiters had full and complete access to our students but we were also trying to protect our own anti-discrimination policy. i m just a little taken aback by the tone of your remarks. because it s unconnected to reality. reporter: kagan once derided
students because of the pentagon s don t ask, don t tell policy. that s not exactly what happened. the fact is, there was recruit many on the harvard campus at the time that she was there. she may waintained a policy tha existed before she came there, not allowing the career placement office to host that, because there was a policy relative to discrimination. when the law was passed and upheld, banning that, then she changed the policy. so she tried to conform to the policy of the school, and the law. and yes, she expressed herself on the law, but she has always been very hospitable to military recruitment and to young people on campus who wanted to serve their country. in fact, the irony of this discussion, wolf, is her objection to the don t ask, don t tell law was she wanted everyone who wanted to serve their country, every young person, every young person who wants to serve their country, to have that opportunity. because jeff sessions, the ranking republican on the judiciary c