Elena Kagan Confirmed to Supreme Court Despite Being a Threat to the Constitution

The Senate confirmed former Harvard Law Dean Elena Kagan as the next Supreme Court Justice Thursday by a 63-37 vote.

Five Republicans backed the 50-year-old Kagan, and one Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), voted against her.

Kagan, born on Manhattan‘s Upper West Side, takes the seat vacated by the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens. She was not expected to alter the current ideological balance of the Court, now represented by five conservatives and four liberals.

The 63 votes to confirm were the same number garnered by President Obama‘s first choice for the high bench, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and surpassed the 58 votes to confirm notched by former President George W. Bush‘s last nominee, Justice Samuel Alito in 2006.

Kagan, who will join Sotomayor and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to give the Court three women for the first time, dodged and withstood GOP attempts to paint her as an activist who would seek to turn her liberal politics into law. 

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued that Kagan was “well within the judicial mainstream” while Republicans hammered at her lack of judicial experience — she has never served as a judge.

A recent USA Today/Gallup poll showed that 46% favored her nomination, 36% were against and 18% had no opinion.