WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Senate voted 63-37 today to confirm Elena Kagan as the 112th justice and fourth woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Five Republicans, the two Senate independents and all but one Democrat supported President Barack Obama's second appointment to the high court in a year. His first nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, was confirmed almost exactly a year ago. Kagan succeeds retired Justice John...

President Barack Obama has announced his second nomination to the United States Supreme Court. He has chosen Elena Kagan, the current Solicitor General of the United States, to fill the United States Supreme Court seat being vacated by retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Unlike the more recent appointees to the Court, Kagan has not served as an appellate judge and thus does not have the judicial paper trail that most...

On April 9, 2010, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens informed the White House that he would step down as of the Court's summer recess. Justice Stevens, age 89, has served on the Supreme Court for 34 years. Read the retirement letter that Justice Stevens sent to President Obama . Justice Stevens was nominated by President Gerald Ford and took his seat on December 19, 1975. Prior to his appointment to the Court...

These materials discuss the Constitutional basis and other aspects of the nomination and approval of Supreme Court justices. The links below may be accessed by lexis.com subscribers. Non-subscribers may obtain research packages by the day, week, or month at lexisONE . Appointment of "judges of the Supreme Court" by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate is provided by U.S. Constitution...