WASHINGTON - Solicitor-General Elena Kagan would be the first person in 38 years to join the United States Supreme Court without first serving as a judge. She's had a year as perhaps the next best thing.
As the Obama Administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, Kagan has argued six cases before the people who will become her colleagues if she wins Senate confirmation.
In nominating Kagan to replace Justice John Paul Stevens, President Barack Obama has chosen a brilliant legal scholar with liberal views and conservative friends.
Kagan, 50, already has won Senate confirmation once, after Obama nominated her to be the Administration's top Supreme Court lawyer.
Kagan's reputation for bringing together liberals and conservatives on Harvard's notoriously fractious law school faculty appears to hold the key to her rapid rise.
Kagan is now the first woman to serve as solicitor-general, and she would be only the fourth woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
She would be the youngest justice, five years younger than Chief Justice John Roberts.
- AP
Youngest pick for US Supreme Court
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