Kagan was born during 1960 in New York, NY on the city’s Upper West Side and was raised – along with her two brothers – by her parents, Gloria Gittelman Kagan and Robert Kagan. Gloria taught fifth and sixth grade while Robert was an attorney. The family attended the then extremely popular Lincoln Square Synagogue. In her youth, Kagan was strong-willed and, so the story goes, clashed with her Orthodox rabbi over the proceedings of her bat mitzvah. She wanted to be like the boys and asked for permission to read from the Torah on Saturday, but instead compromised and read from the Book of Ruth on a Friday. Kagan now considers herself a member of Conservative Judaism – a modern form of Judaism arising out of German intellectual currents during the 19th century.

Elena Kagan is President Obama's nominee to fill the seat of retired Justice John Paul Stevens

Kagan graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in history and then from Oxford University in 1983 with a Masters in Philosophy. She went on to Harvard Law School to receive her J.D. in 1986, became the supervising editor of the Harvard Law Review and was praised as one of their top students. Kagan began what has been an illustrious career in academia in 1991, when she was named an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School. Beginning in 1995, Kagan served four years under the Clinton administration. She started as President Clinton’s associate counsel, but eventually became the deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy and deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council. At the conclusion of her time with the Clinton administration, Kagan sought to return to academia. In 1999, she was hired by Lawrence H. Summers (former Clinton Treasury secretary and Obama adviser who was then Harvard’s president) as professor of constitutional and administrative law at Harvard Law School.

In 2003, Kagan was the first woman to be named the Dean of Law School by then Harvard University president Summers. While acting as dean, Kagan was known for raising record breaking capital ($476 million), providing a more inviting atmosphere for students (including offering them free coffee), and for expanding the law school’s faculty with splash hires (including major legal scholar Cass Sunstein and the conservative Jack Goldsmith who had worked in George W. Bush’s Office of Legal Counsel). Kagan’s time as dean at Harvard Law School ended when she was named Obama’s solicitor general. The solicitor general is often called the “10th justice,” but the person in the position is not actually a justice in any sense, but rather a lawyer advocating on behalf of the government before the U.S. Supreme Court.

To understand Kagan’s rise within the Obama administration, one would do well to consider the academic connections between she and the President. Kagan joined the staff at the University of Chicago Law school in 1991 and became tenured in 1995; Obama was on staff from 1993 to 2004. Kagan clerked for Abner Mikva; Mikva is now a Chicago lawyer and a close Obama mentor – advising him in each of his last three major campaigns. Additionally, Kagan worked closely with Obama’s chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel while serving under the Clinton administration. Finally, most significant to Obama’s regard for Kagan may be his high regard for Harvard Law faculty in general: Obama is advised by a handful of other Harvard Law professors including (among others) Laurence Tribe, Charles Ogletree, and Dan Meltzer, who is deputy White House counsel.

Yet, despite an academically elite background that might be considered in some ways quite transparent, Kagan’s judicial commitments have often been less than clear. Over the course of the current judicial senate hearings, however, Kagan’s view of the Constitution and how it ought to govern our country will likely become less enigmatic as she will be pressed by senators to answer difficult questions with both clarity and accuracy.

Watch Opening Statement by Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan HERE.

Ms. Kagan is the nation’s top civil attorney and represensts the President and his administration before the US Supreme Court on matters of civil and administrative law. She is a past dean of Harvard Law School, served in the Clinton Administration and clerked for the late Justice Thurgood Marshall. She has never been a sitting judge.

“General Kagan” (as her formal title has her), would be the third woman and third Jewish justice on the court (with Justices Ruth Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.) This makes for the first time in American history when there will be no Protestant member. The rest of the Court (Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonya Sotomayor and Chief Justice John Roberts, are all Catholic.)

Elena Kagan is President Obama's choice to be the next Supreme Court Justice

Another interesting dynamic in this is that all the Jewish justices lean liberal, while the majority of Catholic justices lean conservative.

Now that the President has selected a nominee, the U.S. Senate must confirm his choice. They do so through a process that begins with research on the nominee’s background, personal interviews, circulation of dossiers, a hearing before the US Senate Judiciary Committee and a subsequent vote by all U.S. senators. If Ms. Kagan is successful, she will likely be be sworn in sometime in mid-summer.

Faith and Action is calling the American people to begin praying for the nominee, the President and his staff as they work on this important process, and for the members of the US Senate, especially on the Judiciary Committee. Faith and Action president, Rev. Rob Schenck, and allied ministry partner Rev. Pat Mahoney, will (as they have done for the last two nominees) soon conduct a prayer and anointing service for the confirmation process at the doors of the Judiciary Committee hearing room.

For the names, photos and backgrounds of US Senate Judiciary Committee members for use as a prayer list, click here.

Rev. Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK), who recently visited the controversial Mojave Desert war memorial that’s constitutionality will be considered by the US Supreme Court this Wednesday, Oct 7, will hold a news conference with attorneys and other religious leaders Tuesday, Oct 6, at 11:00 AM.

Rev. Schenck’s organization, Faith and Action, filed a brief in the impending case Salazar vs. Buono, arguing the simple cross along a lonely stretch of desert road comports with the Constitution and reflects long-held American traditions

A federal district court and appeals court ruled against the cross made of common pipes and ordered it covered with a plywood box.

After driving into the desert to see the cross for himself, Rev. Schenck said, “This small, unimposing, humble, almost makeshift tribute to America’s fallen heroes has stood quietly in the desert for 75 years. Because of the complaint of one person, the federal courts have wasted thousands of tax dollars and critical man-hours making a mountain out of a molehill.”

Wednesday’s news conference will take place in front of another contested monument in the garden of the ministry center operated by Faith and Action. Schenck fought a legal battle with the District of Columbia that claimed the 3-foot sculpture of the Ten Commandments violated the so-called “separation of church and state.” Schenck and his group won that contest when the DC Legal Department conceded he had a right under the First Amendment to display the timeless words.

Schenck will also participate in a prayer service in front of the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning just before he goes inside to take his reserved seat for the arguments.

Details:

News Conference on Mojave Desert War Memorial Cross Supreme Court Case (Salazar vs. Buono)

Tuesday, October 6, 11:00 Am

Front garden of Faith and Action Ministry House, 109 2nd St, NE, Washington, DC 20002

Participating: President of National Clergy Council and Faith and Action Rev. Rob Schenck (Amici), Constitutional attorney and author of case brief, Bernard Reese, National Director of Christian Defense Coalition Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney and other religious liberty advocates

Prayer service for Supreme Court justices

Wednesday, October 7, 9:00 AM

Sidewalk in front of West Steps of the US Supreme Court

Participating, National Clergy Council president Rev. Rob Schenck, National Director of Christian Defense Coalition Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney and other religious leaders and First Amendment advocates

For more information or interviews contact Peggy Nienaber of Faith and Action at 202-546-8329, ext 104, peggy@faithandaction.org or mobile 202-236-0953.

The Mojave Desert cross is now obscured under threat from a Supreme Court lawsuit.

The Mojave Desert Cross, erected in 1934 as a memorial in honor of the brave men and women who gave their lives to defend freedom during the First World War, has been officially designated by Congress as a War Memorial. However, the ACLU has declared that this cross is an offensive religious symbol on government land that violates the Constitution, and they want it removed!

This case has now reached the US Supreme Court. If the ACLU succeeds in tearing down the Mojave Desert Cross, no religious symbol on public land will be safe!

We need at least 50,000 Americans to join their voices together to tell the justices to protect the Mojave Desert Cross. Please click here to sign our petition and fill in the form to add your signature. Then forward the petition to five of your family, friends, and fellow worshippers.

Also, you may click here for a digital copy of Faith & Action’s amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court.

Rob Schenck directly center behind Sonia Sotomayor during Senate hearing.

Faith and Action, is about to change markedly. This week Judge Sonia Sotomayor is expected to be confirmed by the US Senate as the next sitting associate justice on the High Court. The seat she will occupy was vacated after the retirement of Justice David Souter.

“Judge Sotomayor has a very different personality from Justice Souter,” said Rob Schenck, who met the nominee during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Justice Souter was a reserved, almost reclusive, reticent New Englander. Judge Sotomayor is a passionate and outspoken New Yorker to the core. My father was born in Manhattan, my mother’s from Brooklyn and I served my first church in Queens. I know what that means, a very different temperament indeed.”

The Supreme Court forms an important part of the mission focus of Faith and Action. Rev. Schenck expects to be with the presumptive Justice Sotomayor many times in sometimes intimate settings.

“I think we’ll get along nicely,” said Rev. Schenck. “I certainly be pray that’s the case, and that we’ll have many meaningful conversations about important things.”

Rob Schenck is interviewed by David Shuster on CNBC, May 27th.

“Long ago I learned the media can be a curse or a blessing. I decided to make it a blessing by using it to preach what I call sermons in a minute. Even when the interviewer is hostile you can get your message through. I’m always my own worse critic, but I think I succeeded at that today.”

In the live broadcast, Rob emphasized he and other moral conservatives actually celebrate the nomination of an Hispanic woman to the High Court. He noted his own strong ties to the Hispanic community and repeated the Spanish message he sent to Judge Sotomayor, “Felicitaciones a la jueza, y la familia y la comunidad. Congratulations to the judge, the family and the community.”

He also stressed what he likes about the Judge, “She had a thorough Christian education in Catholic schools, which is important for many reasons, and she ruled against Planned Parenthood and affirmed the right of the federal government to favor a pro-life position over a pro-abortion position.”

Still, Rob pointed out there are many unknowns about Judge Sotomayor that need to be thoroughly investigated. He noted one big negative about the pro-choice candidate, “Judge Sotomayor seems comfortable with excluding certain persons from their constitutionally protected rights. That mainly involves the pre-born. Every human being has a right to live his or her life, it’s the first right enumerated in the Declaration of Indepedence and protected in the Constitution.”

Host David Shuster attempted several times to force Rob to address the question of same-sex marriage. He didn’t take the bait. He said afterwards, “Same-sex marriage, while in the news, is not the critical issue with Judge Sotomayor. It may be a question for the future, but it’s largely hypothetical. I did tell Mr. Shuster that if the Judge supports same-sex marriage, it will be a big problem. The bigger problem, though, is her present opinions on the value of life and extending full God-given rights to every human being, including the pre-born.”

The interview was cut short, but Mr. Shuster did say he looked forward to Rob returning to continue the debate.

“It may only last a few minutes. I always spend more time preparing than doing the interview, but people have short attention spans, so these are important times of ministry to a much wider audience than I would have normally.”