Historic day: Obama picks third woman for high court
Source: Agencies |
May 11, 2010, Tuesday
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AMERICAN President Barack Obama nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court yesterday, positioning the United States to have three women justices on its top court for the first time and pushing the former law school dean toward the pinnacle of her profession.
At 50, Kagan is relatively young for the lifetime post and could help shape the high court's decisions for decades.
Supreme Court justices wield enormous power over the daily life of Americans.
Kagan "is widely regarded as one of the nation's foremost legal minds," Obama said, introducing her in the White House East Room.
Kagan said she was "humbled by this nomination ... the honor of a lifetime." Obama cited what he called Kagan's "openness to a broad array of viewpoints" and her "fair mindedness."
In a statement issued before Kagan completed her remarks, the lawmaker who will preside over her confirmation hearing, Patrick Leahy, a Democrat senator, said the Senate should confirm Kagan by early September.
The Republican Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell, said his party would make sure there was a "thorough process, not a rush to judgment" on the nomination.
Obama praised retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, a leader of the court's liberals, calling him "a giant in the law," impartial and having respect for legal precedence.
"While we can't presume to replace Justice Stevens' wisdom or experience, I have selected a nominee who I believe embodies that same excellence, independence, integrity and passion for the law, and who can ultimately provide that same kind of leadership on the court," Obama said of his nominee.
It was a remark that underscored what aides have described as the president's desire to appoint a replacement who could match Chief Justice John Roberts' intellectual firepower.
Obama noted that neither Kagan's mother nor father "lived to see this day, but I think her mother would relish this moment. I think she would relish, as I do, the prospect of three women taking their seat on the nation's highest court for the first time in history."
At 50, Kagan is relatively young for the lifetime post and could help shape the high court's decisions for decades.
Supreme Court justices wield enormous power over the daily life of Americans.
Kagan "is widely regarded as one of the nation's foremost legal minds," Obama said, introducing her in the White House East Room.
Kagan said she was "humbled by this nomination ... the honor of a lifetime." Obama cited what he called Kagan's "openness to a broad array of viewpoints" and her "fair mindedness."
In a statement issued before Kagan completed her remarks, the lawmaker who will preside over her confirmation hearing, Patrick Leahy, a Democrat senator, said the Senate should confirm Kagan by early September.
The Republican Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell, said his party would make sure there was a "thorough process, not a rush to judgment" on the nomination.
Obama praised retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, a leader of the court's liberals, calling him "a giant in the law," impartial and having respect for legal precedence.
"While we can't presume to replace Justice Stevens' wisdom or experience, I have selected a nominee who I believe embodies that same excellence, independence, integrity and passion for the law, and who can ultimately provide that same kind of leadership on the court," Obama said of his nominee.
It was a remark that underscored what aides have described as the president's desire to appoint a replacement who could match Chief Justice John Roberts' intellectual firepower.
Obama noted that neither Kagan's mother nor father "lived to see this day, but I think her mother would relish this moment. I think she would relish, as I do, the prospect of three women taking their seat on the nation's highest court for the first time in history."
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