President Nominates Elena Kagan, 4th Woman To Serve Supreme Court

This morning President Barack Obama confidently nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan for the U.S. Supreme Court. Although the President has decided to appoint the 50 year old former Harvard Law School dean, his decision requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate.

During a press conference, Kagan recently stated that while serving as the Solicitor General during this past year she has gained a deeper and richer appreciation for the Supreme Court’s role in democracy. From being a clerk under judges and serving under two Presidents, she considers her professional career to be marked by great good fortune. Most of her professional life was centered around teaching and reminding her students of why she loves the law.

While thanking her friends and family members for being with her as she verbalized her appreciation for the nomination, her only regret is that her parents weren’t present. Both the children of immigrants, her father was a lawyer and her mother was a teacher.

Kagan is expected to pass fairly smoothly through the Senate confirmation process. She has been through one Senate confirmation already, receiving confirmation last year for her current position.

If she is confirmed, Kagan would replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, a leading liberal voice on the court. It will be Obama’s second selection to the Supreme Court as President. During his first selection, he nominated Sonia Sotomayor and she was confirmed by a 68-31 Senate vote in August 2009. Sotomayor became the first Hispanic to serve on the court.

If confirmed, Kagan would become the fourth woman ever to serve on the Supreme Court and this would become the first time that three women are serving on the court at the same time. Kagan would join Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg who are already among the current nine justices.

According to University of Notre Dame Professor Rick Garnett, President Obama is on his way to having more influence over the court than any president since Reagan, and perhaps even Roosevelt.