Kagan Is Reportedly Obama’s Choice for Supreme Court
President Obama will reportedly nominate Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Kagan, 50, currently the solicitor general and a former dean of Harvard Law School, is the president’s pick, NBC News reported Sunday evening.
Kagan would bring the number of Jews and women on the court to three: Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are Jewish, and Obama filled his first vacancy, last year, with Sonia Sotomayor.
Kagan likely would not face Republican opposition in U.S. Senate confirmation hearings. A number of leading conservatives have endorsed her as a moderate.
As dean at Harvard Law, Kagan sought to redress what she perceived as an ideological imbalance by hiring conservative professors.
Jewish groups that have surveyed the likely picks – Obama reportedly was down to four – have been enthusiastic about the prospect of a Kagan candidacy.
Kagan would replace John Paul Stevens, a liberal stalwart who is retiring at 90.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
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And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
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