After another summer of hyperbolic debate, the Senate voted 63-37 Thursday to confirm solicitor general and former Harvard Law School dean Elena Kagan as the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
Despite the obligatory objections over her judicial record (or lack thereof), legal philosophy (real and imagined) and all-around Obama-appointedness, Kagan breezed through the confirmation process with nary a scratch. Among the noteworthy yeas were five Republicans: Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Dick Lugar of Indiana, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. Notably voting no were moderate Republicans George Voinovich of Ohio — even though he supported her nomination for solicitor general — and Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who warmly introduced Kagan as a fellow Bay Stater at the outset of her Senate hearings. Also voting nay was Ben Nelson of Nebraska, the lone Democrat to oppose her confirmation.
Kagan, 50, will join Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg — both fellow New York natives — on the bench, marking the first time in history three women have served together on the High Court. She is the 112th Justice named to the Supreme Court, Obama’s second appointee, and will replace retiring John Paul Stevens when the court reconvenes in the fall.
