President Barack Obama picked solicitor general Elena Kagan as his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, NBC reported on Sunday, choosing a relative moderate who may still face questions from Republican Senators on gays in the military.
Elena Kagan (pronounced /ˈkeɪɡən/), born April 28, 1960 is Solicitor General of the United States. She is the first woman to hold that office, having been nominated by President Barack Obama on January 26, 2009, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 19, 2009. Kagan was formerly dean of Harvard Law School and Charles Hamilton Houston Professor of Law at Harvard University. She was previously a professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School. She served as Associate White House Counsel under President Bill Clinton. Late in the evening of May 9, 2010, MSNBC, followed by the New York Times, reported that Kagan will be nominated to be the next U.S. Supreme Court justice, replacing John Paul Stevens, by President Obama on May 10, 2010. If nominated and confirmed, she would become the fourth female Supreme Court justice in United States history and third on the court’s current bench. She would also be the eighth Jewish justice and the third on the current bench.