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Elena Kagan when she was dean of Harvard Law School, seated next to Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female justice of the Supreme Court, October 2008. Kagan completed her Senate testimony for her Supreme Court nomination this week.

(Flickr/The Harvard Law Record)

Gabriel Arana is a contributing editor at The American Prospect. His articles on gay rights, immigration, and media have appeared in publications including The New Republic, The Nation, Salon, The Advocate, and The Daily Beast.