Elena Kagan has certainly earned a name for herself in the academic and government world within the United States. Her hard work and exceptional background led her to her position as Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court even without any prior judicial experience (“Elena Kagan”). Kagan is the only justice in which no prior experience of judicial hearings did not hinder her being appointed by a president. This being said, Elena has worked many jobs that have given her the needed experience to be a justice.
Born on April 28th, 1960 in New York, Elena was brought up in a Jewish home in which her parents inspired her to go into the judicial field; her father was a long-time partner of a law firm and her mother was a teacher. Knowing she wanted to continue her education, Kagan attended an all-girls high school in which she learned many valuable lessons and the power of being a women. “”It was a very cool thing to be a smart girl, as opposed to some other, different kind,” she says. “And I think that made a great deal of difference to me growing up and in my life afterward.”(qtd.in “Elena Kagan” via Biography)”. After high school, she went to Princeton University where she studied history and graduated with a bachelors degree and honors which allowed her to obtain her masters in philosophy from Worcester College in England. In 1983, Kagan moved back to the states to become the supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review.
After her graduation from Harvard, Kagan decided it was time to move into politics. She had two clerk jobs-one for Judge Abner Mikva of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the other for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States Supreme Court. During 1988, she also worked for the presidential campaign but her candidate lost his bid (“Elena Kagan”). Shortly after, she worked as an associate in a Washington D.C. law firm just has her father had in New York.
Kagan worked in the firm for three years before deciding to return back to education, this time as a professor. Her first teaching job was at the University of Chicago Law School, and after only 4 years there, she left to work with President Bill Clinton. She was first given the role of associate counsel, but Clinton later promoted her twice. Her first promotion was to the position of Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the second, to the role of Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council. As director of the Domestic Policy Council, Kagan coordinated domestic policy efforts that were consistent with the President’s goals (“Domestic Policy Council”). Clinton also nominated Kagan to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals in the D.C. Circuit, but the nomination was turned down by the Senate.
In 1999, Kagan decided that she wanted to again higher her education especially after being turned down from the nomination. She starting as a visiting professor at Harvard, but just two years later had her own title of professor at Harvard. After another two short years, Kagan had the title of Dean of Harvard in 2003. “During her five years as the dean of Harvard Law, Kagan made big changes at the institution, including faculty expansion, curriculum changes and the development of new campus facilities” (qtd.in “Elena Kagan” via Biography).
Another big change happened for Kagan in 2008 after President Barrack Obama, also a Harvard alum, took office; he selected her as the new solicitor general of the United States. This was quite the honor because she was the first female to ever be selected for the job. The main role of the solicitor general is to decide which cases against the United States should be under review of the Supreme Court rather than lower level courts (“About the Office”).
With her new role, Kagan earned plenty more respect, and after two month, President Obama nominated her for the new Supreme Court Justice position after another justice retired. After approval from the Senate, she took her seat on the Supreme Court on August 7, 2010. She was the fourth women to take a seat, and now, three women currently sit on the Supreme Court. This is an accomplishment because three women have never served on the Court at the same time before. When she was given her position, she was also the youngest person to be appointed to the court at the age of fifty.
Since taking her seat, Kagan has had the opportunity to write eleven opinions and four dissents and to side with the majority numerous times (“Writing by Justice Kagan”). Examples of cases she has sat in are sex-same marriage, Obamacare, and violent videogames. However, some of the hardest cases she has encountered include the First Amendment and whether or not the government has power to intervene. In 1996, Kagan wrote an article over the First Amendment that continues to both help and hinder her decisions now (Liptak). With the changes in technology since 1996, her article cannot prove First Amendment protections over internet mediums. One dissent from Kagan that includes both the First and Fourth Amendment was the case of Utah vs. Edward Joseph Strieff Jr. In her dissent Kagan wrote, “From here on, he sees potential advantage in stopping individuals without reasonable suspicion—exactly the temptation the exclusionary rule is supposed to remove. Because the majority thus places Fourth Amendment protections at risk, I respectfully dissent” (qtd. in Utah vs. Strieff). This shows her strong belief in the protection of civilian rights. When asked about the courts briefing process, Kagan stated that the only change she would make is the clarity (Journal). She explained that most of the cases brought to the Supreme Court are highly complex and it is sometimes hard to be clear in the briefings and opinions what the justices really mean.
As I was researching, I truly got a deeper understanding of what it takes to be a member of the Supreme Court. These justices are extremely intelligent, and have to do their best to keep their own opinions out of case for the benefit of the entire country. I found a quotes by Kagan that I especially loved, “I have no regrets. I don’t believe in looking back. What am I proudest of? Working really hard and achieving as much as I could” (qtd. in Swalin). As a female, this quote is powerful and inspiring, showing all of us that if we work hard we can do anything we want.
Works Cited
“About the Office.” The United States Department of Justice, 27 Oct. 2014, http://www.justice.gov/osg/about-office-1.
“Current Members.” Home – Supreme Court of the United States, USA Gov. , 2017, http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/biographies.aspx.
“Domestic Policy Council.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/eop/dpc.
“Elena Kagan.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 6 May 2016, http://www.biography.com/people/elena-kagan-560228.
“Elena Kagan.” Oyez, 28 Nov. 2017, http://www.oyez.org/justices/elena_kagan.
Journal, ABA. “Full Transcript of Bryan A. Garner’s Interview with Elena Kagan.” ABA Journal, http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/full_transcript_of_bryan_a._garners_interview_with_elena_kagan/.
Liptak, Adam. “19 Years Later, Article by Kagan Echoes at the Supreme Court.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Jan. 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/us/kagans-words-echo-at-the-supreme-court-19-years-later.html.
Swalin, Rachel. “11 Quotes From Women Supreme Court Justices | Reader’s Digest – Reader’s Digest.” Reader’s Digest, 15 Apr. 2016, http://www.rd.com/culture/female-supreme-court-justice-quotes/.
“Utah v. Strieff, 579 U.S. ___ (2016).” Justia Law, supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/579/14-1373/dissent5.html.
“Writing by Justice Kagan.” Supreme Court Collection: Opinions by Justice Kagan, http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/justices/kagan.dec.html.
Journalism & Law 