The retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens has given President Obama the opportunity to nominate a second person to the Supreme Court in a two-year span. After a few short weeks of suspense, current Solicitor General Elena Kagan was chosen by Obama to fill the void left by Stevens’s departure from the Court.

With the announcement by Patrick Leahy, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that Kagan’s confirmation hearings are set to begin on the 28th of June, we are given the opportunity to evaluate Obama’s choice more than a month before her testimony before Congress. Although there will likely be criticism from those on the extreme left and right, Obama’s selection of Kagan, if she is confirmed, should be viewed as a lukewarm victory for liberals and with a sigh of relief from conservatives because the alternatives could have been worse for partisans on both sides. 

Even though Kagan was Obama’s ultimate choice, two other notable front runners are worth mentioning, especially in the unlikely event that the confirmation hearings sour and Obama is forced to nominate a replacement.

Merrick Garland, a judge on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and Diane Wood, who sits on the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, were two other individuals identified as possible replacements for Stevens.  Garland has been seen as an extremely viable candidate because he is the least controversial candidate and a moderate judge.  Diane Wood, on the other hand, has an extremely long paper trail and would likely face significant opposition by those on the right because of her opinions in Hope Clinic v. Ryan and NOW v. Scheidler, which clearly demonstrated her support for the abortion right.  This concern would be furthered since she clerked for Justice Blackmun, the author of Roe v. Wade, and later wrote an article supporting his logic in the case. 

Thus, Kagan probably seemed the easier pick to Obama because she had already undergone Senate confirmation hearings for her role as SG by the same Senate that would now confirm her nomination to the Supreme Court, and would likely be on the Court longer since she is eight years younger than Garland and 10 years younger than Wood.
In addition, Kagan is the first woman dean of Harvard Law School and the first female Solicitor General.  If confirmed, she would also represent another first:  the first time three women have sat on the Supreme Court at the same time. All of these factors likely contributed to her getting the nod over Merrick Garland and Diane Wood.

For liberals, Kagan’s nomination then should be welcomed. While she does not lean as far left as some would like, she would most likely fall within the liberal bloc on the Court and agree to most, if not all, of the President’s agenda for the Court. 

With President Obama facing continuous scrutiny from the healthcare bill, and with the results of recent primaries suggesting a possible weakness in the Democratic Party, Obama needs a more moderate liberal so as to avoid invoking the ire of those on the right and an ultimate defeat in the Senate hearings. In addition, the historical precedent set by her confirmation would also be a significant victory for liberals.

However, those on the right should also breathe a sigh of relief because the situation that Obama found himself in necessitated the nomination of a moderate liberal to the Court and not an ideologue.  From a conservative perspective, this nomination is the lesser of two evils and should elicit a sigh of relief that someone like Wood was not a feasible candidate for nomination. 

All in all, Elena Kagan will likely face some conservative opposition in the Senate during her hearings, but it will most likely be purely theatrical and symbolic as she will almost certainly be confirmed.

Since the ideological coalitions will remain intact, as Kagan would represent replacing a liberal with a liberal, and because the Democrats, at least temporarily, have a near supermajority in the Senate, I think it is safe to extend the heartiest of congratulations to the future Justice Kagan. 

Kevin Eaton is a junior political science, public policy and economics major. He can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].