WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Tom Udall, D-NM, today released the following statement after the Senate's 63-37 vote to confirm Elena Kagan as the nation's 112th justice of the United States Supreme Court:
"The inscription that greets visitors to the Supreme Court building reads: ‘Equal Justice Under Law.' I believe that inscription is at the heart of the experience Elena Kagan will bring as the newest member of the high court.
"It includes a reputation as one of the nation's foremost legal minds; as a legal advisor to two presidents; as the first woman to serve as Dean of Harvard Law School; and as the nation's first female solicitor general. It also includes more personal experiences, many of which mirror the lives of the American people she has committed her own life to serve. She's the child of immigrants. She's the daughter and sister of public schoolteachers, and she's been a teacher herself. She was an advocate for her students. And she's a proponent of discussion and debate that educates, respects and improves upon the lives of all it impacts.
"It's because of all of these experiences - as President Obama said on the day he introduced her - that General Kagan will make the nation's highest court ‘more inclusive, more representative, more reflective of us as a people than ever before.' I am confident that Solicitor General Kagan has the experience that will make her a stellar justice, and it was my honor to cast my vote in favor of her confirmation as the 112th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court."
