Elena Kagan Confirmed - Senate Roll Call – How they Voted

Elena Kagan, an Obama administration attorney, and former Harvard Law School Professor has become the fourth woman nominated to the Supreme Court. She is the second Obama nominee to be appointed to the Supreme court. Kagan follows Sandra Day O’Connor (Reagan), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Clinton) and Obama’s first appointee, Sonia Sotomayor.

Kagan's appointment will not, at this point, affect the current “ideological” makeup of the court, however, as she has no judicial record, one cannot, at this juncture, anticipate how Kagan will rule on any given case. That said, given recent rulings by liberal thinking justices on the lower courts, it is assumed that Kagan will legislate from the bench, similar to other left-leaning justices who base rulings on a “living Constitution” rather than the intent of the Document as a rule of law for the nation. Considering recent rulings by justices (Arizona Illegal Alien Law and California overturn of Proposition 8) who would inject political or personal opinion rather than rule on law, it is not unreasonable to have doubts about Ms. Kagan, that said, one must wait and offer the benefit of the doubt. As Kagen will be seated in August, interested U.S. Citizens will have an opportunity to determine how she will rule on any given case. Kagan may surprise both the right and the left ideologically.

About the office: Justice appointments are permanent, made by the Executive Branch, and subject to replacement upon retirement, death or, according to the U.S. Constitution, Impeachment. The Senate functions in both the judicial confirmation as well as the impeachment process see: , The Role of the Senate in Judicial
Impeachment Proceedings: Procedure, Practice, and Data – pdf file here.)

Kagan was confirmed by a vote of 63 to 37 the following roll call by order of State from Senate.gov:


Grouped by Home State

Alabama: Sessions (R-AL), Nay, Shelby (R-AL), Nay

Alaska: Begich (D-AK), Yea, Murkowski (R-AK), Nay

Arizona: Kyl (R-AZ), Nay, McCain (R-AZ), Nay

Arkansas: Lincoln (D-AR), Yea, Pryor (D-AR), Yea

California: Boxer (D-CA), Yea, Feinstein (D-CA), Yea

Colorado: Bennet (D-CO), Yea, Udall (D-CO), Yea

Connecticut: Dodd (D-CT), Yea, Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea

Delaware: Carper (D-DE), Yea, Kaufman (D-DE), Yea

Florida: LeMieux (R-FL), Nay, Nelson (D-FL), Yea

Georgia: Chambliss (R-GA), Nay, Isakson (R-GA), Nay

Hawaii: Akaka (D-HI), Yea, Inouye (D-HI), Yea

Idaho: Crapo (R-ID), Nay, Risch (R-ID), Nay

Illinois: Burris (D-IL), Yea, Durbin (D-IL), Yea

Indiana: Bayh (D-IN), Yea, Lugar (R-IN), Yea

Iowa: Grassley (R-IA), Nay, Harkin (D-IA), Yea

Kansas: Brownback (R-KS), Nay, Roberts (R-KS), Nay

Kentucky: Bunning (R-KY), Nay, McConnell (R-KY), Nay

Louisiana: Landrieu (D-LA), Yea, Vitter (R-LA), Nay

Maine: Collins (R-ME), Yea, Snowe (R-ME), Yea

Maryland: Cardin (D-MD), Yea, Mikulski (D-MD), Yea

Massachusetts: Brown (R-MA), Nay, Kerry (D-MA), Yea

Michigan: Levin (D-MI), Yea, Stabenow (D-MI), Yea

Minnesota: Franken (D-MN), Yea, Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea

Mississippi: Cochran (R-MS), Nay, Wicker (R-MS), Nay

Missouri: Bond (R-MO), Nay, McCaskill (D-MO), Yea

Montana: Baucus (D-MT), Yea, Tester (D-MT), Yea

Nebraska: Johanns (R-NE), Nay, Nelson (D-NE), Nay

Nevada: Ensign (R-NV), Nay, Reid (D-NV), Yea

New Hampshire: Gregg (R-NH), Yea, Shaheen (D-NH), Yea

New Jersey: Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea, Menendez (D-NJ), Yea

New Mexico: Bingaman (D-NM), Yea, Udall (D-NM), Yea

New York: Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea, Schumer (D-NY), Yea

North Carolina: Burr (R-NC), Nay Hagan (D-NC), Yea

North Dakota: Conrad (D-ND), Yea Dorgan (D-ND), Yea

Ohio: Brown (D-OH), Yea Voinovich (R-OH), Nay

Oklahoma: Coburn (R-OK), Nay Inhofe (R-OK), Nay

Oregon: Merkley (D-OR), Yea Wyden (D-OR), Yea

Pennsylvania: Casey (D-PA), Yea Specter (D-PA), Yea

Rhode Island: Reed (D-RI), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea

South Carolina: DeMint (R-SC), Nay Graham (R-SC), Yea

South Dakota: Johnson (D-SD), Yea Thune (R-SD), Nay

Tennessee: Alexander (R-TN), Nay Corker (R-TN), Nay

Texas: Cornyn (R-TX), Nay Hutchison (R-TX), Nay

Utah: Bennett (R-UT), Nay Hatch (R-UT), Nay

Vermont: Leahy (D-VT), Yea Sanders (I-VT), Yea

Virginia: Warner (D-VA), Yea Webb (D-VA), Yea

Washington: Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Murray (D-WA), Yea

West Virginia: Goodwin (D-WV), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea

Wisconsin: Feingold (D-WI), Yea Kohl (D-WI), Yea

Wyoming: Barrasso (R-WY), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Nay

Should one feel strongly about the way one’s Senator voted, contact information for your Senator can be found here: at Senate.gov.