We have a new member of the Supreme Court. Congratulations to Elena Kagan, the fourth woman to ever serve as Supreme Court Justice, and the second to be nominated by Barack Obama. The vote was 63-37, with Democrat Ben Nelson voting against and Lindsey Graham, Dick Lugar, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins voting for. Kagan will replace John Paul Stevens, who is now ninety years old. Kagan won’t be ninety years-old until 2050. That gives you an idea of the potential influence Justice Kagan may have on the Court.
Of course, it’s too early to know what kind of influence she’ll have, but it will be exciting to see her get started.
Here are the birth dates for the nine Supreme Court Justices:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: March 15, 1933
Antonin Scalia: March 11, 1936
Anthony Kennedy: July 23, 1936
Stephen Breyer: August 15, 1938
Clarence Thomas: June 23, 1948
Samuel Alito: April 1, 1950
Sonia Sotomayor: June 25, 1954
John Roberts: January 27, 1955
Elena Kagan: April 28, 1960
Ginsburg will probably retire before the 2012 presidential election to assure a Democrat can nominate her successor. Then it gets interesting. Assuming Obama wins a second term, Scalia and Kennedy will both be eighty years-old by the time that term is over. Can they both hang on that long? If they serve as long as John Paul Stevens, they can survive not only two full Obama terms, but another two terms by Biden or Clinton, and another two years after that.
