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Elena Kagan Quotes

Elena Kagan is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, nominated by President Barack Obama on May 10, 2010 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 5, 2010. She is the fourth woman to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court.

Kagan was born and raised in New York City. After attending Princeton University, Worcester College, Oxford and Harvard Law School, she completed federal Court of Appeals and Supreme Court clerkships. She began her career as a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, leaving to serve as Associate White House Counsel, and later as policy adviser, under President Clinton. After a nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which expired without action, she became a professor at Harvard Law School and was later named its first female dean.

In 2009, Kagan became the first female Solicitor General of the United States. Then on May 10, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated her to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy arising from the impending retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens. Confirmed by the United States Senate by a vote of 63 to 37, Kagan was sworn into office on August 7, 2010.

✵ 28. April 1960
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Elena Kagan: 6   quotes 0   likes

Famous Elena Kagan Quotes

“Subsequent hearings have presented to the public a vapid and hollow charade, in which repetition of platitudes has replaced discussion of viewpoints and personal anecdotes have supplanted legal analysis. Such hearings serve little educative function, except perhaps to reinforce lessons of cynicism that citizens often glean from government. Neither can such hearings contribute toward an evaluation of the Court and a determination whether the nominee would make it a better or worse institution. A process so empty may seem ever so tidy — muted, polite, and restrained — but all that good order comes at great cost.”

Elena Kagan

On hearings of nominees to the Supreme Court after the rejection of Judge Bork, in a review of The Confirmation Mess (1995).

“I love Justice Marshall. He did an enormous amount for me. But if you confirm me to this position, you will get Justice Kagan. You won't get Justice Marshall, and that's an important thing.”

Elena Kagan

Senate Confirmation Hearing, reported in David Espo, " Analysis: Republicans resurrect Marshall as target http://web.archive.org/web/20100702142210/http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h6FlOApxiNud4gJ6OmuRTVhjHV9wD9GL2SJO1", Associated Press (29 June 2010).

“I think people are great in many different ways. So, I think some justices are great because they have extraordinary wisdom, they have an understanding of how to apply the law in their times … in a way that's completely consistent with … the text of the law and the purposes of the law, and in a way that's completely right for the times in which they live in.”

Elena Kagan

Interview on C-SPAN (9 December 2010) http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/297143-1.

“It is absolutely true that I have served in two Democratic administrations. You can tell something from me and my political views from that.”

Elena Kagan

Senate Confirmation Hearing, reported in " Elena Kagan under fire from Republicans http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/jun/29/elena-kagan-barack-obama-supreme-court", The Guardian (29 June 2010).

“Its fine if the law bans books because government won't really enforce it.”

Elena Kagan

Widely reported as having been said by Kagan during the Supreme Court oral argument in the Citizens United case in September, 2009; however, this quote does not appear in the actual transcript of the oral argument http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/08-205[Reargued].pdf.
Misattributed

“My politics would be, must be, have to be, completely separate from my judgment.”

Elena Kagan

Senate Confirmation Hearing, reported in " Elena Kagan under fire from Republicans http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/jun/29/elena-kagan-barack-obama-supreme-court", The Guardian (29 June 2010).

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