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Elena Kagan ’81 got drunk on election night in 1980. Standing in the Brooklyn Academy of Music with her vodka and tonic, she watched Walter Cronkite usher in the news that Democratic candidate Elizabeth Holtzman had lost the race for one of New York’s Senate seats. And then she sat down and wept. Three decades later, Kagan is the first female solicitor general of the United States and one of the leading candidates for President Barack Obama’s nomination to fill the seat of U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, who is due to retire when the court’s term...

President Obama has selected Elena Kagan, the solicitor general of the United States, as his nominee to replace the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. From her official bio: Kagan came to Harvard Law School as a visiting professor in 1999 and became Professor of Law in 2001. While on the faculty, Kagan taught administrative law, constitutional law, civil procedure, and seminars on issues involving the separation of powers. She was appointed Dean of the Law School in 2003. Aside from employment as an associate in a law firm, her functions before becoming the solicitor general were primarily academic, and later...

<p>WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will nominate U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan to serve as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, NBC News’ Pete Williams reported late Sunday night.</p> <p>Kagan, 50, served as the Dean of Harvard Law School from 2003 to 2009. Obama nominated her to serve in her current post as solicitor general early in 2009, and she won Senate confirmation by a vote of 61-31. She is the first woman to serve as solicitor general of the United States.</p>

Liberal Judge Sidney Thomas Makes Obama's Short List for Supreme Court Washington, DC -- Ninth Circuit Appeals Court Judge Sidney Thomas is one of four people said to be on the short list of names President Barack Obama is considering to replace retiring pro-abortion Justice John Paul Stevens. The list includes two key abortion advocates but Thomas would likely uphold Roe v. Wade. http://LifeNews.com/nat6307.html

When Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court last year, the media was full of stories of an historic first, a barrier broken. The first Latina to serve on the high court is certainly something to note. Justice Clarence Thomas was only the second black American to be nominated to the Supreme Court. His confirmation hearings, however, were hardly the stuff of "let's make history." Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden, after promising Judge Thomas a fair hearing, enabled the worst kind of gutter rumor and "over the transom" innuendo to be introduced against...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama interviewed federal judge Diane Wood of Chicago on Tuesday for an upcoming opening on the Supreme Court, a person familiar with the conversation told The Associated Press. She is the fourth candidate for the job known to have had face-to-face talks with the president.

Granholm Says She’s on Obama’s Short List April 25, 2010 by: Lee Ross Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) says she’s once again on President Obama’s short list for appointment to the Supreme Court. In an interview with CNN, the term-limited governor says she has talked with people in the Obama administration about the upcoming nomination to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. “It's a great honor to be on -- considered on the list,” said Granholm who went through this process last year with the opening that went to Sonia Sotomayor. She did not say if she’s spoken with the...

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) says she’s once again on President Obama’s short list for appointment to the Supreme Court. In an interview with CNN, the term-limited governor says she has talked with people in the Obama administration about the upcoming nomination to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. “It's a great honor to be on -- considered on the list,” said Granholm who went through this process last year with the opening that went to Sonia Sotomayor. She did not say if she’s spoken with the President who Fox News reported this past week held informal discussions with some...

When now Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito faced a Senate confirmation vote in 2006, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., had no qualms about rejecting Alito simply because she did not agree with him. "If one is pro-choice in this day and age, in this structure, one can't vote for Judge Alito," Feinstein declared. Feinstein went even further. When Republicans argued that simple fairness demanded a full floor vote on Alito, Feinstein, like Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., supported the use of the filibuster to prevent it. They tried but failed to prevent a majority-rules vote. Now that...

President Obama cast a wider net Wednesday in his search for a Supreme Court nominee, adding a federal judge from Chicago to his working list and soliciting suggestions from lawmakers in a closed-door session. Judge Ann Claire Williams, the first African American ever appointed to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, joins a list of about 10 other candidates to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, the White House confirmed. Obama said Wednesday that he would announce a nominee before the end of May, but aides to the president — a former constitutional law lecturer — said he was...

Political observers have settled on a list of about a dozen potential nominees to the Supreme Court and federal appeals court Judge Diane Wood is frequently considered one of the top three likely nominees. However, Wood is considered one of the most ardently pro-abortion -- and it may cost her. President Barack Obama will have to consider a replacement for retiring pro-abortion Justice John Paul Stevens. Curt Levey, executive director of the Committee for Justice, told the Washington Post today that Wood's pro-abortion record is "her Achilles' heel." "It tells you that she's probably not going to be selected, because...

Pro-Life Groups Condemn Obama Abortion Litmus Test for Supreme Court Pick Washington, DC -- Leading pro-life organizations are awaiting the upcoming Supreme Court battle and fully expect President Barack Obama to name a pro-abortion replacement for retiring pro-abortion Justice John Paul Stevens. They say Obama, despite his protests to the contrary, issued an abortion litmus test this week. http://LifeNews.com/nat6277.html

With Justice John Paul Steven just months away from retirement, the White House says President Obama is considering a more diverse pool of candidates, including whites, blacks and Hispanics -- men and women -- to tap for his replacement. "I think he will have a broad group of people that represent many – that represent America as a way of looking at the nominee," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday. Fox News has confirmed the latest name in the mix: Judge Ann Claire Williams of the 7th Circuit, who was the first black nominated to the federal bench, by...

Federal appeals court nominee Goodwin Liu’s confirmation hearing on Friday quickly turned into a partisan showdown. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee attacked Liu’s public remarks and writings as reflecting an activist agenda, and also said Liu lacked experience arguing cases before the Supreme Court. Democrats aggressively defended him, and complained that Republicans were holding Liu to a different standard than used for Republican judicial appointees. Both sides are watching the confirmation closely because Liu’s nomination to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is viewed as a prelude to this summer’s fight over President Barack Obama’s second Supreme Court...

Justice Stevens announced his intention to quit on April 9th. President Barack Obama is expected to nominate a replacement within weeks. Leaks suggest that he has a shortlist of about ten candidates, including a couple of big political names: Janet Napolitano, the homeland-security secretary, and Jennifer Granholm, the governor of Michigan. Most pundits, however, expect him to nominate a professional jurist. The most-mentioned names include Diane Wood and Merrick Garland, both appeals-court judges, and Elena Kagan, the solicitor-general. His nominee must be confirmed by the Senate, which should be easy, since his party has a hefty majority. In theory, Republicans...

A controversial nominee for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals apologized Friday for sending Senate Judiciary Committee members an incomplete portfolio about himself and said he'd do whatever he could to win the committee's trust. Republican senators called into question Goodwin Liu's temperament as a possible judge, blasting the controversial 9th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee during his confirmation hearing Friday over statements he made about Supreme Court Judge Samuel Alito's "vision of America." At the time of Judge Alito's confirmation process Liu was quoted as saying that "in Judge Alito's America, the police may shoot unarmed Americans ... the...

The President Will Again Have To Consider A Complicated Political Calculus It didn't take President Obama very long to pick Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter, but he may face the same difficult choice again soon. With Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and John Paul Stevens likely approaching the end of their tenures, Obama could end up naming at least two more justices to the high court. What would he be looking for in his second and third nominees? Court observers predict he will seek out consensus candidates -- or at least non-provocative ones. In...

Cornyn: Openly gay SCOTUS nominee might be acceptable By J. Taylor Rushing - 04/12/10 06:59 PM ET An openly gay nominee to the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court might be acceptable, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Monday. Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on President Barack Obama to make a measured choice in filling the pending Supreme Court vacancy, hesitating slightly when asked if he would support an openly gay nominee. Cornyn, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, was initially reluctant when asked if he would support an openly gay nominee — as Sen. Jeff Sessions...

WASHINGTON (AP) - An administration official says President Barack Obama is considering federal appeals court judge Sidney Thomas of Montana for the Supreme Court, one of about 10 people under serious review.

White House kills Hillary SCOTUS buzz The White House moved quickly today to squelch the widening speculation that Hillary Clinton could be nominated to the Supreme Court, as Senator Orrin Hatch suggested this morning. "The President thinks Secretary Clinton is doing an excellent job as Secretary of State and wants her to remain in that position," said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor. Clinton's spokesman had said she was flattered by Hatch's flotation, though happy in her current posts, and others in Clinton's circle had quietly responded warmly to the notion. But Veitor's comment is aimed at putting an end to...