The honesty of U. S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan was questioned by Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

It has been reported that Kagan, the U. S. solicitor general appointed by President Barack Obama to fill the vacancy on the nation's highest court created by the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens, was questioned during a committee hearing on a wide range of issues and told committee members she believes in following precedent.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., the top Republican on the committee, questioned Kagan at length about her decision, as dean of Harvard Law School, to include the U. S. military among employers barred from recruiting at Harvard under the school's anti-discrimination policy, because of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on military services for gays and lesbians.

She reveres and honors military service, and military recruiters were able to recruit at Harvard by using a campus veterans' group's facilities, Kagan has said.

Kagan further testified, "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 and to protect the students whom … the policy is supposed to protect, which in this case were our gay and lesbian students. And we tried to do both of those things."

The restriction, implemented in 2004 and 2005, was lifted after a U. S. Supreme Court ruling.

Sessions said, "I know what happened at Harvard. I know you acted without legal authority."

The Los Angeles Times has reported that according to sessions, Kagan had not been "rigorously accurate" in her testimony and said he expected "intellectual honesty" from judicial nominees.

He also said, "The overall picture that she portrayed of the situation seems to me to be disconnected to the reality. I believe that's a serious matter." (With Inputs from Agencies)