A few notes scribbled in the margins, some brief e-mails and occasional memos help paint only a faint picture of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan when she served as a domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton.

There's a rough outline, but little definition. And as with many faded or blurry pictures, there's just enough material for people to see what they want in the woman President Barack Obama has tapped for the Supreme Court.

Discussing the effects of the 1996 welfare reform that Clinton signed into law, Kagan took an unsentimental approach in backing the filing of a legal brief saying that illegal immigrants aren't entitled to routine prenatal care.