President Obama picks Solicitor General Kagan to Supreme Court

President Barack Obama announced Monday that he is nominating
Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.

Obama made the announcement at 10 a.m. from the East Room.

Kagan
will be Obama’s second nominee to the court and would replace retiring
Justice John
Paul Stevens. Her confirmation would not change the court’s voting
balance, as she would replace one of the court’s most liberal justices.

Kagan
would become the third woman to sit on the court, which would be the
most women who have served at once.

The White House looked at a handful of finalists, but
Kagan had long been seen as a likely nominee because of expectations
that she would easily win confirmation from the Senate.

Though
she has never served as a judge, Kagan is seen as a consensus-builder
whose confirmation would go down more smoothly with conservative lawmakers than
some other potential high-court picks.

The Senate confirmed her to the solicitor general post last year,
though 31 Republicans voted against her nomination.

Kagan, 50,
was the dean of the Harvard Law School from 2003-09 and served as a White
House adviser under President Bill
Clinton.

She is the first woman to be solicitor general and, if
confirmed,
would be the fourth woman appointed to the Supreme Court.