Though it was expected, it was good to hear Elena Kagan was confirmed by the Senate this afternoon, 63 to 37. Five Republicans voted for her confirmation, and Sen. Ben Nelson, who apparently is vying to become the most obstructionist member of a majority party ever, voted against it.
David Leonhardt, whose column I wrote about yesterday, used the last three women nominated to the Supreme Court -- Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Harriet Miers -- as examples of the type of women more likely to succeed in their careers; those without children. Leonhardt's column pointed out that much of the gender gap in the workplace can be explained as a motherhood gap, since women without children earn more and can be promoted more than women with children (though they still do worse overall than their male counterparts). It's also worth pointing out that the kinds of sterling records men like Chief Justice John Roberts are praised for are the same types of sterling records women like Sotomayor and Kagan have, but their records render them suspicious.
Either way, a court that now has women sitting on a third of it at least gets closer to being representative of the world its meant to judge.
-- Monica Potts
