Monday, Elena Kagan, 50, began the confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee; her nomination will be reviewed. Democrats have enough votes to confirm her, and Republicans haven’t shown in strong force that they may block a vote.
Kagan’s lack of judicial experience is expected to be of interest, but many other justices have had no bench time, but were successful. The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. cited Earl Warren, Hugo Black and Robert Jackson as justices that hadn’t served on the bench before their nomination.
Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama said that he is concerned that she may be "outside the mainstream" of legal thinking. While others are worried her strong political views may be too strong to sit on the high court.
"She'll have to convince me that all of this liberalism that she's lived with all her life can be put in a proper place and when she gets to be a judge she'll be left of center but within the mainstream of judging," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on "Fox News Sunday."
President Obama is scheduled to appear this week before the Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill.
Kagan would be the fourth woman to join the Supreme Court, and the third woman on the high court right now if she is confirmed.
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To read more about Kagan and her bio, click here.
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Sources: CNN and the Associated Press
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Comments
Back when Harriet Miers was nominated, he said her lack of judicial experience was a good thing.
What a loser.
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