Elena Kagan was confirmed Thursday by the Senate. She is pictured here being sworn in before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images)
Washington (CNN) - Solicitor General Elena Kagan was easily confirmed Thursday as the next associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, completing the 50-year-old native New Yorker's climb to the peak of the American legal profession.
The 63-37 vote was more than enough to blunt any possibility of a last-minute Republican delay or filibuster. Opposition during three days of Senate floor debate was relatively subdued.
Kagan is set to begin a lifetime position as the nation's 112th justice. Administration officials anticipate she will sworn into office Saturday, when she takes the traditional constitutional and judicial oaths. She will then assume her court duties immediately.
CNN Radio Political Notebook:
Her brisk confirmation was a political victory for President Barack Obama - who placed Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the high court last year - and for Senate Democrats.
From CNN Politics
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great news! i wish her well, and so relieved that she will be on the bench to hear the Prop 8 case when it gets to the Supreme Court! Big Congrats to Supreme Court Justice Kagan!
One in three current US Supreme Court justices is a woman.
Life is good.
A sad day for true Freedom in America.
Yavo, what's that you are eating there ? French Fries !?
Nein, dis is verbotten !
Just another Black eye to American Jusyice.
This is good news.I hope Keith in Austin is happy or what ever of the fifty names he uses daily on these posts.Hahahahahaha
same circus, different clowns.....
This is great news! Like Lindsey Graham said "there are consequences to winning and losing elections, Obama chose Elena Kagan and she is qualified therefore, she should be confirmed"!
Elena Kagen will be a dynamite Supreme Court Justice. The gals on the Supreme court will finally have some real clout with three of them there.
Congratulations Justice Kagan. I know it really irks conservatives to hear that.
Justice Kagan, Justice Kagan, Justice Kagan
sad and this country will pay for it.
Congratulations to Ms. Kagan and to President Obama for outmanuevering the Party of NO. There was just no way to deny Ms. Kagan this job ... she is qualified and will bring a fresh perspective to the Highest Arbitration Panel in the land.
Ladies of America, remember whose always "got your back" ... it is President Barack Hussien Obama. His 1st act was to sign a law that gave equal pay to women doing the same work as men ... the Lilly Ledbetter Act.
And now he hasplaced two women in a row to the Supreme Court. It's easy to place one and wave the flag for equal rights ... but to place two in a row ... well ... that's what we call WALKING THE TALK
And yet another victory for a President the right says "is in over his head." Go, President Obama!
God help us.
And the democrats mission of destroying the country marches on.
If Obama gets to stack the Supreme Court with enough activist judges we can do away with the Constitution and Congress, the judges will make all of the laws.
Sometimes, things go the way they should. We can only hope these small victories are enough to save our future.
Well, the right-wing hysteria-and-outrage machine will be going into overdrive, what with this and the overturning of the ban on gay marriage in California. Expect the most insane proclamations and hysterical outrage in yet another attempt to chum their yokels into a fever-pitch of anger and paranoid fear.
I thought inciting a mob was a crime, but it's just politics-as-usual for the reactionary right.
Wooo Hoooo! It's another good day for America! Yesterday the court overturning Prop 8 and today the third woman seated on the Supreme Court.!
Qualified???? She's never served as a judge! Of course, since the president has never run a business, never served in the military, etc. she's a perfect fit.
I guess she'll look to 'international' law while she figures out how to be a judge...
hopefully we the court's decline will halt
Got the token GAY on the court now. Another biased judge who hates the military, guns, god, babies in the womb and everything else liberals despise. The list is too long..
This is great news, but it would have been even better if the majority of the party of NO wasn't trying to prevent it. They just want to get a majority of Judges that think it's best to let the Repubs change the constitution so prejudice and hatred is allowed, but gun control of any kind is not to be allowed. They want hanging judges that will allow people to carry guns, including terrorists! They want a judge that will overturn abortion rights and will make it an imprisonable crime for anyone to be homosexual. They want a judge who ignores the fact that hetrosexual relationships.
Well, they didn't win this one and I'm thrilled.
Congratulation to the American people, and to Justice Kagan. Finally another person who will not adjust the constitution like right wing christians have adjusted the bible.
Doesn't matter...
A left wing liberal judge replaced a left wing liberal judge... no difference
Why is the mainstream media ignoring the vote on obamacare in Missouri yesterday?