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Kagan Confirmed

August 5, 2010 - by Donny Shaw

Obama’s latest Supreme Court nominee, Elana Kagan, was officially confirmed by the Senate on Thursday afternoon by a vote of 63-37. She’ll be sworn in on Saturday, marking the first time in U.S. history that three women have served on the court simultaneously.

As the NYT reports, this wasn’t exactly a slam-dunk confirmation:

In the final vote, 5 Republicans joined 56 Democrats and 2 independents in supporting the nomination; 36 Republicans and one Democrat, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, opposed her.

The partisan divide over the nomination illustrated the increasing political polarization of fights over Supreme Court nominees, who in years past were backed by both parties in the absence of some disqualifying factor. Ms. Kagan received fewer Republican votes than Justice Sotomayor, who was supported by nine Republicans in her 68-to-31 confirmation on Aug. 6, 2009. Democrats balked at Samuel A. Alito Jr., nominated by President George W. Bush, with only four endorsing him in a 58-to-42 vote in January 2006.

Since the Senate became a 100-seat chamber in 1959, only one (of 21 total) Supreme Court nominees has been confirmed with fewer votes than Kagan. The full history of Supreme Court nominees can be viewed at this link. The Times chalks this up to increased polarization, but it’s also worth mentioning that Kagan will be the only Justice who doesn’t have previous experience as a judge. Sen. Scott Brown [R, MA], for example, cited this lack of experience in his explanation for voting “no.”

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Comments

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  • frukit 08/06/2010 1:11am
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    Does Anyone In Our Government Know That We Need: Roads Repaired, Bridges Repaired, A New Alternative Energy System Built, Exsisting Power Plants Repaired, New Nuclear Power Plants Built, Water Treatment Plants Built And / Or Upgraded, Billions of Dollars Spent On INFRASTRUCTURE Of These United States.Do You Think That It Would Be Hard, For Our Elected Officials To Take The Necessary Steps, To Employ AMERICANS To WORK On OUR OWN COUNTRY.We Do Have To Live Here,You Know!!-BILLIONS FOR THE WAR MACHINE, NO MONEY FOR THE HOME TEAM ?-WTF

  • Jonapoo4u 08/06/2010 4:28pm
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    well spoken :) its unfortunate that in order to be a senate member you must require a I.Q of less than 50.They even the dems cant see past their own lifestyles what really needs to happen.I think the country should be ran by intellegent people or atleast people with some degree in common sense and by the way that isnt a degree that you can get at some fancy college.

  • Abaratarrr 08/06/2010 9:40pm
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    this is just freaking great they are now using tax payer money to train foreigners to do our jobs.

    “a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $36 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia

    Following their training, the tech workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent’s low labor costs. "

    http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/integration/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500202

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