Elena Kagan Supreme Court nomination

Elena Kagan with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House, May 10, 2010.

On May 10, 2010, President Barack Obama announced his selection of Elena Kagan for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Kagan's nomination was confirmed by a 63-37 vote of the United States Senate on August 5, 2010.

When nominated, Kagan was Solicitor General of the United States, to which she had been appointed by Barack Obama. She had previously been a contender for the retiring David Souter's seat in 2009, but was passed over in favor of current Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.[1]

Speculation regarding the nomination of Elena Kagan

President Barack Obama nominates Kagan to the Supreme Court (14 min 6 secs)

Prior to her reported selection as Obama's nominee, Kagan had been appointed as Solicitor General of the United States. In May 2009, she was widely speculated to be a nominee acceptable to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter. The seat was eventually filled by Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the Second Circuit.

Response to Kagan's nomination

In the Senate, Kagan's nomination was received positively by most Democrats, who praised her abilities and the fact that she came from outside the so-called 'judicial monastery' . Republicans were quicker to express criticism, particularly over her handling of military recruiters during her time as Dean of Harvard Law School, as well as her work as a law clerk for the late Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom many of them deemed a liberal activist.[2]

Activist Michael Johns and tea party members demonstrate against Kagan on July 1, 2010.

The deans of over one-third of the country's law schools, 69 people in total, endorsed Elena Kagan's nomination in an open letter in early June. The letter lauded what it considered her coalition-building skills and "understanding of both doctrine and policy" as well as her written record of legal analysis.[3]

The National Rifle Association announced its opposition to Kagan, and stated that it would score the vote on her confirmation, meaning that Senators who vote in favor of Kagan would receive a lower rating from the organization.[4] At the same time, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence announced its support for Kagan's nomination.[5]

Confirmation hearings

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy swears in Kagan during her first day of testimony.

Confirmation hearings began on June 28, 2010, the final day of the Court's term.[6] From the 28th through the 30th, Kagan underwent two rounds of questioning by each member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Several witnesses were called to give testimony before the Judiciary Committee at the hearings.[7] These witnesses included Kim Askew and William J. Kayatta, Jr. of the American Bar Association.[7] The Democratic members of the committee called witnesses that included:[7]

Republican members of the committee called the following witnesses:[7]

Senate votes

Committee

The Senate Judiciary Committee scheduled a recommendation vote for July 20, 2010 [8] On that day the committee voted to endorse Kagan on a 13 to 6 vote, with only one Republican, Lindsey Graham, siding with the nominee.[9]

Filibuster

It is also possible for a nominee to be filibustered, which would require 60 votes to overcome (Vice President Joe Biden has no vote in this case), as occurred during the nomination of Abe Fortas to the Supreme Court in 1968. There were 41 Republican senators at the time of Kagan's confirmation, making a one-party filibuster possible. However, five Republicans—Richard Lugar, Lindsey Graham, Judd Gregg, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins[10]—expressed support for her. In addition, minority whip Jon Kyl said "The filibuster should be relegated to extreme circumstances, and I don't think Elena Kagan represents that."[11]

Full Senate

In the full Senate, a simple majority is required for confirmation. With all 100 senators present and voting, 50 votes (plus the tiebreaking vote of the vice president) would have been sufficient to confirm Kagan’s nomination. The full senate confirmed the nomination on Thursday, August 5, 2010, by a vote of 63-37.[12]

56 of the 57 Senate Democrats voted to confirm Kagan. The only Democrat who rejected the confirmation was Ben Nelson (D-NE). Both the Senate independents, Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), voted to confirm Kagan. Additionally, five Senate Republicans broke party lines and voted to confirm Kagan; these were Richard Lugar (R-IN), Susan Collins (R-ME), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Lindsey Graham (R-SC),

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid meeting with Kagan.
Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy meeting with Kagan.
Senator Herb Kohl meeting with Kagan.
Senator Ted Kaufman meeting with Kagan.
Senator Sherrod Brown meeting with Kagan.
President Obama signing Kagan's commission after Senate confirmation.
StateSenatorParty
Vote
Alabama Sessions, JeffJeff SessionsR Nay
Alabama Shelby, RichardRichard ShelbyR Nay
Alaska Begich, MarkMark BegichD Yea
Alaska Murkowski, LisaLisa MurkowskiR Nay
Arizona Kyl, JonJon KylR Nay
Arizona McCain, JohnJohn McCainR Nay
Arkansas Lincoln, BlancheBlanche LincolnD Yea
Arkansas Pryor, MarkMark PryorD Yea
California Boxer, BarbaraBarbara BoxerD Yea
California Feinstein, DianneDianne FeinsteinD Yea
Colorado Bennet, MichaelMichael BennetD Yea
Colorado Udall, MarkMark UdallD Yea
Connecticut Dodd, ChrisChris DoddD Yea
Connecticut Lieberman, JoeJoe LiebermanID Yea
Delaware Carper, TomTom CarperD Yea
Delaware Kaufman, TedTed KaufmanD Yea
Florida LeMieux, GeorgeGeorge LeMieuxR Nay
Florida Nelson, BillBill NelsonD Yea
Georgia Chambliss, SaxbySaxby ChamblissR Nay
Georgia Isakson, JohnnyJohnny IsaksonR Nay
Hawaii Akaka, DanielDaniel AkakaD Yea
Hawaii Inouye, DanielDaniel InouyeD Yea
Idaho Crapo, MikeMike CrapoR Nay
Idaho Risch, JimJim RischR Nay
Illinois Burris, RolandRoland BurrisD Yea
Illinois Durbin, DickDick DurbinD Yea
Indiana Bayh, EvanEvan BayhD Yea
Indiana Lugar, RichardRichard LugarR Yea
Iowa Grassley, ChuckChuck GrassleyR Nay
Iowa Harkin, TomTom HarkinD Yea
Kansas Brownback, SamSam BrownbackR Nay
Kansas Roberts, PatPat RobertsR Nay
Kentucky Bunning, JimJim BunningR Nay
Kentucky McConnell, MitchMitch McConnellR Nay
Louisiana Landrieu, MaryMary LandrieuD Yea
Louisiana Vitter, DavidDavid VitterR Nay
Maine Collins, SusanSusan CollinsR Yea
Maine Snowe, OlympiaOlympia SnoweR Yea
Maryland Cardin, BenBen CardinD Yea
MarylandMikulski, BarbaraBarbara MikulskiD Yea
Massachusetts Brown, ScottScott BrownR Nay
Massachusetts Kerry, JohnJohn KerryD Yea
Michigan Levin, CarlCarl LevinD Yea
Michigan Stabenow, DebbieDebbie StabenowD Yea
Minnesota Franken, AlAl FrankenD Yea
Minnesota Klobuchar, AmyAmy KlobucharD Yea
Mississippi Cochran, ThadThad CochranR Nay
Mississippi Wicker, RogerRoger WickerR Nay
Missouri Bond, KitKit BondR Nay
Missouri McCaskill, ClaireClaire McCaskillD Yea
Montana Baucus, MaxMax BaucusD Yea
Montana Tester, JonJon TesterD Yea
Nebraska Johanns, MikeMike JohannsR Nay
Nebraska Nelson, BenBen NelsonD Nay
NevadaEnsign, JohnJohn EnsignR Nay
Nevada Reid, HarryHarry ReidD Yea
New Hampshire Gregg, JuddJudd GreggR Yea
New Hampshire Shaheen, JeanneJeanne ShaheenD Yea
New Jersey Lautenberg, FrankFrank LautenbergD Yea
New Jersey Menendez, BobBob MenendezD Yea
New MexicoBingaman, JeffJeff BingamanD Yea
New MexicoUdall, TomTom UdallD Yea
New York Gillibrand, KirstenKirsten GillibrandD Yea
New York Schumer, ChuckChuck SchumerD Yea
North Carolina Burr, RichardRichard BurrR Nay
North Carolina Hagan, KayKay HaganD Yea
North Dakota Conrad, KentKent ConradD Yea
North Dakota Dorgan, ByronByron DorganD Yea
OhioBrown, SherrodSherrod BrownD Yea
Ohio Voinovich, GeorgeGeorge VoinovichR Nay
Oklahoma Coburn, TomTom CoburnR Nay
Oklahoma Inhofe, JimJim InhofeR Nay
Oregon Merkley, JeffJeff MerkleyD Yea
Oregon Wyden, RonRon WydenD Yea
Pennsylvania Casey, Jr., BobBob Casey, Jr.D Yea
Pennsylvania Specter, ArlenArlen SpecterD Yea
Rhode Island Reed, JackJack ReedD Yea
Rhode Island Whitehouse, SheldonSheldon WhitehouseD Yea
South Carolina DeMint, JimJim DeMintR Nay
South Carolina Graham, LindseyLindsey GrahamR Yea
South Dakota Johnson, TimTim JohnsonD Yea
South DakotaThune, JohnJohn ThuneR Nay
Tennessee Alexander, LamarLamar AlexanderR Nay
Tennessee Corker, BobBob CorkerR Nay
Texas Cornyn, JohnJohn CornynR Nay
Texas Hutchison, Kay BaileyKay Bailey HutchisonR Nay
Utah Bennett, BobBob BennettR Nay
Utah Hatch, OrrinOrrin HatchR Nay
Vermont Leahy, PatrickPatrick LeahyD Yea
Vermont Sanders, BernieBernie SandersI Yea
Virginia Warner, MarkMark WarnerD Yea
Virginia Webb, JimJim WebbD Yea
Washington Cantwell, MariaMaria CantwellD Yea
Washington Murray, PattyPatty MurrayD Yea
West Virginia Goodwin, CarteCarte GoodwinD Yea
West Virginia Rockefeller, JayJay RockefellerD Yea
Wisconsin Feingold, RussRuss FeingoldD Yea
WisconsinKohl, HerbHerb KohlD Yea
Wyoming Barrasso, JohnJohn BarrassoR Nay
Wyoming Enzi, MikeMike EnziR Nay

Notes: D = Democratic; R = Republican; I = independent; ID = Independent Democratic

See also

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References

  1. Greenburg, Jan Crawford (2009-05-07). "White House Formalizes Supreme Court Short List". ABC News.
  2. "Kagan Quizzed About Thurgood Marshall's Record". NPR. June 29, 2010.
  3. Goldstein, Amy (2010-06-15). "69 law school deans endorse Kagan in letter to Senate". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
  4. James Oliphant, NRA opposes Kagan confirmation, L.A. Times (July 2, 2010).
  5. Kane, Paul; Goldstein, Amy (2010-07-01). "Kagan expected to be confirmed to Supreme Court with little Republican support". Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
  6. Dann, Carrie (June 28, 2010). "Live-blogging the Kagan hearing". MSNBC. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Kagan hearings witness list released". The Washington Post.
  8. "Judiciary Panel to Vote July 20 on Kagan’s Nomination". businessweek.com. 2010-07-13. Retrieved 2010-07-13.
  9. "Judiciary Committee Approves Kagan to Supreme Court". The New York Times. 2010-07-20. Retrieved 2010-07-20.
  10. "Some in GOP backing Kagan - The Boston Globe". Boston.com. 2010-06-02. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
  11. "Jon Kyl: GOP won't filibuster Kagan - Kendra Marr". Politico.Com. Retrieved 2010-07-01.
  12. Oliphant, James (2010-08-05). "Elena Kagan appears assured of becoming next Supreme Court justice". Los Angeles Times.

Further reading

External links

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