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Kagan ’81 becomes third Princetonian on Supreme Court

The Senate voted 63-37 to confirm Solicitor General Elena Kagan ’81 as the next Supreme Court justice, a historic move that marks the first time three women will serve simultaneously on the nation’s highest court. Kagan will also become the fourth female justice in the court’s history and the third consecutive Princetonian to join the court, following Sonia Sotomayor ’76 in 2009 and Samuel Alito ’72 in 2006. She is the 11th Princetonian to serve on the Supreme Court.

Kagan’s confirmation, which followed debate in the Senate Judiciary Committee and on the Senate floor, was supported by five Republicans, two independents and every Democrat except Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Kagan is not expected to alter the ideological balance of the court as she replaces retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, one of the court’s leading liberals.

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Her confirmation completes President Barack Obama’s second successful nomination to the court in a year and is an important political victory for Obama and the Democratic Party, which has been suffering in the polls ahead of November’s midterm Congressional elections.

Kagan's confirmation is a testament not just to her intellectual prowess and accomplishments, but to her character and understanding, Obama said in a statement following the Senate vote. “Elena understands that the law isn’t just an abstraction or an intellectual exercise. She knows that the Supreme Court’s decisions shape not just the character of our democracy, but the circumstances of our daily lives,” he explained.

Obama added that he was “proud that our Supreme Court will be more inclusive, more representative, and more reflective of us as a people than ever before.”

Before the Senate vote, Democrats expressed confidence in Kagan’s ability to judge fairly and impartially, while Republicans voiced concerns about her history of political activism. At only 50 years old, Kagan is the court's youngest justice and could shape the court’s landscape for decades.

Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top-ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said that Obama found a nominee “who shares his progressive, elitist vision and is willing to advance it from the bench.”

“She has been more deeply involved in politics than law and has frequently put her politics above law,” he said, noting her lack of judicial experience. Republicans’ loudest criticisms of Kagan’s nomination centered on her work experience, because Kagan has never previously served as a judge.

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But Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, responded to that criticism by noting that Republicans blocked Kagan’s nomination to the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals in 1999.

“She made clear that she will base her approach on deciding cases on the law and Constitution, and not politics,” Leahy said.

Still, many Republicans disagreed.

Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the Senate minority leader, argued that Kagan has “worked tirelessly to advance a political ideology, often at the expense of the law,” noting that “Americans expect politics to end at the courtroom door.”

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Republicans’ calls that Kagan would become an activist judge who would stray from strict interpretation of the Constitution took on new significance after a federal judge in California overturned that state’s ban on same-sex marriage on August 4. Since that ruling was based on the federal constitution, it could eventually be challenged in the Supreme Court.

But Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada and the Senate majority leader, said he believed the social awareness that Kagan will bring to the court will ultimately benefit the American people, calling Kagan a legal scholar “who looks up from her books out into the real world.”

Reid said that Kagan demonstrates an understanding that “one litigant’s case is no more justified because he has more money than his opponent” and that “the argument of even the poorest citizen should be heard just as loudly, with the same patience, deliberation and impartiality, as one of the richest firms.”

In expressing his support for Kagan, Reid lauded her “unimpeachable character” and  “unwavering fidelity to [the] Constitution.”

Despite heated debate over her nomination, there is little question that Kagan is a trailblazer for women in the legal profession. Kagan served as the first-ever female solicitor general and the first female dean of Harvard Law School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history summa cum laude from Princeton, where she won the Daniel M. Sachs ’60 Scholarship to fund two years of graduate study at Oxford University. She earned a master’s in philosophy from Oxford in 1983 and her law degree magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1986.

Click here to see previous coverage of the nomination of Elena Kagan ’81 and articles from her tenure at The Daily Princetonian.