Who is Elena Kagan?

And the Nominee is...

On May 10th, 2010 President Barrack Obama announced his second nomination to the United States Supreme Court in the form of US Solicitor General Elena Kagan. An immediate frenzy of web browsers stormed the Internet, the world had to know; just who is Elena Kagan. Luckily I had previously written a short biography of Miss Kagan in my salute to retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. Here is another short, tho longer than my previous one, biography about Elena Kagan, who, barring some huge blunder or prior misdeed, will be the next Associate US Supreme Court Justice and the fourth woman to ever serve on our nations highest bench.
Meet and Greet: Elena Kagan

Elena Kagan is a conservative Jew who was born on the Upper West Side of New York City on April 28th, 1960. She was always known as a bright and studios person who had a charming and humorous side that could charm just about anyone. She was also known to be an individualist, even arguing with her Rabbi about what a bat mitzvah should be and making him compromise with her. She attended Princeton University where she achieved an A.B. in history and graduated Summa Cum Laude. She then went on to study at Worcester College Oxford University where she received a master of philosophy degree and then later obtained her juris doctor, magna cum laude from Harvard University where she was also the supervisory editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Her first brush with the Supreme Court was not long in the coming, in 1988, just two years after graduating from Harvard, she was a clerk for Associate Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. From there she became an assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Law School and was then tenured soon after because the students loved and admired her from the beginning. Soon afterwards, President Bill Clinton asked her to serve as his Associate White House Counsel where she urged him to support a ban on late term abortions. In June of 1999, President Clinton nominated her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; however, her nomination was railroaded by Senator Orrin Hatch and the end of the Clinton Presidency.

After her failed nomination, she became the Dean of the Harvard Law School where she set many hiring and national presidents. She broke the moratorium on hiring conservative judicial professors by hiring prominent Bush Era judges. She also made the national Ivy League rule to refuse US Military presence on Harvard campus because she is a strict opponent of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" because she believed, allowing them to recruit on campus was the University's way of supporting the ban. This concept was picked up all throughout academia and her stance made her a mortal enemy with the US armed forces.

When Barrack Obama was elected President, he appointed Kagan to become the first woman Solicitor General of the United States of America. In the position she represents the United States government in all legal cases heard by the Supreme Court and is very familiar with court proceedings and oral arguments. During her hearing to become solicitor general, Kagan drew criticism from the left because she supports the battle field law- which allows indefinite detention without a trial if considered to be an ally of al Qaeda. Then on May 10th, President Obama nominated her to replace the retiring legend that is Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and the formal hearings have been set for June 28th.

Will She Get the Job?

As previously stated, Elena Kagan will become the next Supreme Court Justice, and the fourth woman to serve on that bench, unless some catastrophe happens and the world ends before June 28th. The only interesting and possible fault I can foresee in her nomination hearing is the anger and rage harbored by Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) because of his loss in his primary election this month. Specter, a former Republican, was persuaded by the White House to change party affiliations and was effectively promised the primary nomination by Bill Clinton on behalf of the Obama Administration. However, with his loss fresh in his minds and his wounds still open, might this ranking member of the Judicial Committee effectively try to get back at the Obama Administration by doing all her can to stall and defeat her nomination? America has seen far pettier politics before so it is a possibility. I hardly doubt that a lone, lame duck Senator will be able to stall it for long, if at all, but nonetheless it could make for some fireworks. I encourage everyone to watch this proceedings... You just might learn something.

Later,
Cody

(Photo: Courtesy of the Associated Press)