US Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan Draws Split Verdict on Hill

Early indications suggested Ms. Kagan would be confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate, barring some unexpected revelation. Senate Democrats welcomed her selection, and some Republicans sent positive signals as well.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), a senior member and former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, signaled that he was leaning toward voting to confirm Ms. Kagan.

"My initial reaction is she probably can make a good justice," he said in an interview. He added, "But we've got to look at her record, her writings, her speeches, her pronouncements, the work that she did."

Other Republicans withheld judgment on the nominee, who would be the first justice confirmed in nearly 40 years not to have served as a judge.

Conservative critics also focused on her stand against the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prohibits gays and lesbians from serving openly. As dean of the Harvard Law School, she joined other deans in arguing the rules violate their antidiscrimination policies, and called the policy "profoundly wrong."

Ms. Kagan, the front-runner for the job from the start, has held a string of elite academic, legal and policy jobs, serving as the Harvard Law dean as well as a White House aide to President Bill Clinton. For the last year, she has represented the Obama administration before the Supreme Court as solicitor general.

On Monday, aides said Mr. Obama was looking for a leader who can help build majorities in close cases. In his remarks, Mr. Obama praised Ms. Kagan's "skill as a consensus-builder."

"Elena is respected and admired, not just for her intellect and record of achievement, but also for her temperament—her openness to a broad array of viewpoints," the president said. He pointed to her tenure at Harvard Law, where she recruited faculty of all ideological stripes on a left-leaning campus.

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