Elena Kagan, Law School Deans, SCOTUS, Solicitor General's Office, Supreme Court

Breaking: Elena Kagan to Solicitor General

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Many have speculated that Harvard Law School’s hot and high-powered dean, Elena Kagan, might be a Supreme Court nominee in an Obama administration.

Dean Kagan is one step closer to sitting on the Court. Assuming her confirmation process goes smoothly — which it surely will, given how universally adored and admired she is, by liberals and conservatives alike — Elena Kagan will soon be arguing before the SCOTUS, as the Solicitor General of the United States.

As expected, President-elect Barack Obama has selected her as his SG nominee. From a message just sent out by Dean Kagan:

I am writing to all of you – the community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Harvard Law School – to let you know that today President-elect Barack Obama will announce his intention to nominate me to serve as Solicitor General of the United States. If confirmed by the Senate, I will resign the deanship of the Law School and take a leave of absence from the faculty.

If Dean Kagan makes the jump from solicitor general to justice, it won’t be unprecedented. The justice for whom she clerked, Thurgood Marshall, served as SG from 1965 to 1967, until President Johnson appointed him to the Court.

Back in 2007, Dean Kagan lost out on the presidency of Harvard University. Near the end of the Clinton Administration, she was nominated to the Most High D.C. Circuit, but never confirmed. Is 2009 going to be her year?

The full announcement from Dean Kagan to the HLS community, after the jump.

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DEAN ELENA KAGAN — HARVARD LAW SCHOOL — ANNOUNCEMENT

From: Elena Kagan

Date: Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 10:44 AM

Subject: [HLS] Announcement

Dear colleagues and friends:

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I am writing to all of you – the community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Harvard Law School – to let you know that today President-elect Barack Obama will announce his intention to nominate me to serve as Solicitor General of the United States. If confirmed by the Senate, I will resign the deanship of the Law School and take a leave of absence from the faculty.

I have accepted this nomination because it offers me the opportunity, working under the leadership of the President-elect and his nominee for Attorney General, Eric Holder, to help advance this nation’s commitment to the rule of law at what I think is a critical time in our history. I am honored and grateful, awestruck and excited, to be asked to contribute to this most important endeavor. And perhaps, for me, it adds a special touch of sweetness to the occasion that the person making the nomination, in whose capacity for greatness I deeply believe, is himself a member of the group to which I am writing.

At the same time, I feel today real sadness – a sense of loss of what, if confirmed, I will be leaving that is every bit as strong as my sense of anticipation of what will be to come. Now isn’t the time for me to attempt a grand wrapping-up or final farewell; I don’t in any way want to presume the outcome of the Senate’s consideration. For the present, I’ll say only this: it has been both the joy and the privilege of my life to serve as dean of this most wondrous law school. I love it, and I love the extraordinary community of people – you – who make it up. I look forward to staying in close touch.

My warmest wishes for a happy and healthy new year.

Best,

Elena

Update (11:42 AM): Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust, who beat out Dean Kagan for the Harvard presidency, had these warm words to add:

From: Drew Faust

Date: Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 11:28 AM

Subject: Dean Kagan

To: undisclosed-recipients

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

By now many of you will have heard today’s news about Dean Elena Kagan’s nomination to become Solicitor General of the United States. This represents a remarkable honor and opportunity for Elena, and I join in wishing her all the best in the confirmation hearings to come.

More than that, I want to take this moment to recognize Elena’s extraordinary accomplishments since her appointment as dean in 2003. Thanks to the efforts she has guided, the faculty is even stronger, the student experience is richer, the curriculum is fresher, and the school continues to enhance its worldwide leadership in legal education and scholarship.

In light of today’s news, I will be considering the prospective appointment of an acting dean and the launch of a search for a new dean – with the nature and timing of our own next steps dependent on the course of the Senate’s confirmation process. More information will follow as things take shape. For today, I hope you will join me in applauding a terrific colleague and friend.

Happy new year to you all.

Sincerely,

Drew Faust

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Elena Kagan

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