Senate Approves Obama Nominee Kagan to Supreme Court

Reuters is reporting that the Senate confirmed Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday in a 63-to-37 vote, making her the fourth woman to serve on the high court. "From the little that we know, she's likely to be very practical, whereas Justice Stevens was more idealistic," Tom Goldstein said of Kagan's predecessor. "That should be good for business, which is just as concerned with having a workable rule as winning every case outright." Kagan will join Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor to make up the first three-woman bloc in the history of the nine-member court. The Senate confirmation process was arduous, as is usually the case with Supreme Court nominees. Republicans "repeatedly invoked the nominee's lack of judicial and legal experience as a reason to oppose her confirmation." The Reuters report notes that "Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said during the Senate debate that Kagan lacks "real world" experience and would be tempted to engage in "political spin" from the high court."