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CNN confirmed Sunday night that President Barack Obama will be picking U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan as U.S. Supreme Court nominee.
Nearly 95 percent of the betting action was coming in on Kagan late Sunday at intrade.com, which has been offering bets on the next US Supreme Court Justice to be sworn in. There were 1009 bets on Kagan.
The selection does not necessarily guarantee Kagan becomes the next US Supreme Court Justice, however. She'll have to go through a gruelling confirmation process.
"Kagan has a lot of fans on the right as well as the left from her time as the dean of Harvard Law School," said Thomas Goldstein, a noted Washington attorney and founder of scotusblog.com. "She's someone who is an intellectual, who has earned a lot of respect. She's relatively young, a woman, and doesn't likely generate a significant political fight."
"You have to admit, Elena Kagan is a brilliant woman," Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said during a radio interview a year ago when Kagan was being vetted for a high court seat. "She is a brilliant lawyer. If [Obama] picks her, it is a real dilemma for people," especially conservatives like himself. "And she will undoubtedly say that she will abide by the rule of law."
In March 2009, Kagan was confirmed as US solicitor general by a divided Senate, 61-31. All the "no" votes were cast by Republicans.
Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
