<p>"Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan is the leading candidate to be President-elect Barack Obama's representative at the Supreme Court, a person who had been briefed on the process said Friday.</p>
<p>Kagan could become Obama's solicitor general, who represents the United States before the Supreme Court, the person said...."
Source:</a> Harvard Dean is Front-Runner for Solicitor General - FOXNews.com Transition Tracker</p>
<p>While I'm happy for her, because this obviously is just a way to get her ready for a SC appointment, it is really too bad for Harvard Law School.</p>
<p>There is zero chance she will get a SC appointment. Someone who has never been a judge, at any level, will never get confirmed by Congress.</p>
<p>There have been rather more law professors than judges as Solicitors General. A quick look at the list since 1960 shows 7 professors, 3 judges, and 5 or 6 people who had never been either. (I was counting as professors some people who had other political appointments in the Justice Department before becoming Solicitor General, but who were professors before joining the Justice Department.)</p>
<p>Actually, it was unlikely that Obama would appoint a judge as SG, for the simple reason that it has been almost 9 years since a Democratic President made any appointments to the federal bench, and SG is a tough job, not something for someone who would be considering retirement. So judges who have been appointed SG were people who had been appointed as judges when they were very young. There probably aren't many Democratic judges now under 55 or so, and most are older than that.</p>
<p>I don't mean to suggest that a 60-year-old couldn't be a good SG. Many could. But the people appointed to that job tend to be younger than that, and to become judges AFTER their stint there.</p>
<p>It's also worth noting that if she is appointed and confirmed, she will be the first woman to hold the job other than in an "acting" interim capacity.</p>