Thaindian News

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) – The U.S. Senate on Thursday has voted to confirm Elena Kagan as the 112th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, with a 63-37 vote.

Fifty-eight democrats and independents in addition to five Republicans voted to confirm Kagan as a Supreme Court Justice, thirty-six Republicans and one Democrat, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, voted against her nomination.

The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest judicial body in the U.S. and leads the Federal judiciary. Once appointed to the Supreme Court, Justices have a lifetime tenure, which can only be terminated by death, resignation, retirement, or conviction on impeachment. While the U.S. Supreme Court is typically an appellate court, it does have a range of authority over a small number of cases that originated in its jurisdiction.

Kagan is the fourth female justice to serve, and prior to her confirmation, she served as Solicitor General of the United States under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2010. She began her career as a professor at the University of Chicago Law School and eventually left to serve as an associate White House counsel and later policy advisor of former President Bill Clinton. She then became a professor at Harvard Law School and was later named Dean of the school.

The current U.S. Supreme Court lineup includes Chief Justice John Roberts, nominated by George W. Bush; and Justices Antonin Scalia, Reagan; Anthony Kennedy, Reagan; Clarence Thomas, Bush; Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Clinton; Stephan Breyer, Clinton; Samuel Altio, Bush; Sonia Sotomayor, Obama and Elena Kagan, Obama.