WASHINGTON (AP) — Challenged by Republicans, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan said Tuesday the Pentagon’s recruiters had access to Harvard Law School students “every single day I was dean” and rejected GOP claims she maneuvered to thwart them.

“I’m just a little taken aback by the tone of your remarks because it is unconnected to reality,” retorted Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, first Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee to question in public President Barack Obama’s choice for the high court.

Said Kagan: “I respect and indeed I revere the military.”

The exchange came little more than an hour into a scheduled full day of questioning by members of the panel, which will vote first on Kagan’s appointment to succeed retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Barring a major gaffe, the 50-year old Obama administration solicitor general appears well on her way toward confirmation in time to take her seat before the court opens a new term in October.

Kagan also spoke favorably of televising Supreme Court proceedings. “It would be a great thing for the court, and it would be a great thing for the American people,” she said.

But she was far less forthcoming when asked whether she believed the Supreme Court had erred last winter in ruling that corporations and unions were free to spend their own funds on political activity.

Kagan said that as solicitor general, she had argued the government’s side of the case, which turned out to be a loser in a 5-4 ruling. Pressed to say what her personal views were, she said, “I did believe we had a strong case to make. I tried to make it to the best of my ability.”

Earlier, the hearing turned testy when Sessions questioned Kagan’s actions as dean in a controversy stemming from the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and a law that denied federal funds to any institution denying equal access to military recruiters.

Responding to Sessions on another issue, Kagan refused to describe her political views as “progressive in the mold” of the president who twice has appointed her to important jobs.

She also sidestepped when the Alabama Republican, citing a characterization by a senior White House official, sought to label her as a “legal progressive.”

“I honestly don’t know what that label means,” she said. “I’ve served in two Democratic administrations. … You can tell something about me and my political views from that.”

Kagan also declined when Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., asked for her views of the other members of the court she hopes to join. She said it would be a “bad idea” for her to talk about current justices, drawing laughter from a crowded hearing room.

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