Pelosi Statement on Senate Confirmation of Solicitor General Elena Kagan as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami/Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today after the Senate voted to confirm Solicitor General Elena Kagan as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court:

“Solicitor General Elena Kagan has proven herself an outstanding leader and legal mind as a lawyer, professor, public servant, and administrator. She will bring her deep knowledge of the law and respect for individual rights for all Americans to the bench as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

“It is a true tribute to our heritage of progress and our promise of equality that, when Elena Kagan is sworn in, three women will sit on the Supreme Court for the first time in history.

“I congratulate Elena Kagan on her confirmation, and I am proud that our nation’s highest court will soon benefit from her service. I commend President Obama for his nomination and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy for the Senate’s timely confirmation.”