By — Quinn Bowman Quinn Bowman Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/us-senate-approves-kagan-for-high-court Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter U.S. Senate Approves Kagan to Join Supreme Court Politics Aug 5, 2010 4:47 PM EDT The U.S. Senate voted 63 to 37 Thursday afternoon to approve Elena Kagan as an associate justice to the Supreme Court, making her the fourth woman to become a justice on the nation’s highest court and the third woman on the current court. President Obama said from Chicago that Kagan’s confirmation was”an affirmation of her character and her temperament; her open-mindedness and evenhandedness; her determination to hear all sides of every story and consider all possible arguments.” Kagan is not expected to dramatically change the ideological balance of the court. She was appointed by President Obama to replace retiring associate justice John Paul Stevens, a reliable vote in the liberal bloc of the court. The vote was mostly along party lines, with five Republican senators and two independents voting with Democrats for her confirmation. Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson was the only senator in his party to join Republicans in voting against her. We’ll have more about the confirmation proceedings on Thursday’s NewsHour broadcast. You can follow our full coverage of her nomination and confirmation process here. Here’s the roll call for Thursday’s vote. A “yes” is a vote to confirm the nomination. State Senators ALABAMA Sessions (R), No Shelby (R), No ALASKA Begich (D), Yes Murkowski (R), No ARIZONA Kyl (R), No McCain (R), No ARKANSAS Lincoln (D), Yes Pryor (D), Yes CALIFORNIA Boxer (D), Yes Feinstein (D), Yes COLORADO Bennet (D), Yes Udall (D), Yes CONNECTICUT Dodd (D), Yes Lieberman (I), Yes DELAWARE Carper (D), Yes Kaufman (D), Yes FLORIDA LeMieux (R), No Nelson (D), Yes GEORGIA Chambliss (R), No Isakson (R), No HAWAII Akaka (D), Yes Inouye (D), Yes IDAHO Crapo (R), No Risch (R), No ILLINOIS Burris (D), Yes Durbin (D), Yes INDIANA Bayh (D), Yes Lugar (R), Yes IOWA Grassley (R), No Harkin (D), Yes KANSAS Brownback (R), No Roberts (R), No KENTUCKY Bunning (R), No McConnell (R), No LOUISIANA Landrieu (D), Yes Vitter (R), No MAINE Collins (R), Yes Snowe (R), Yes MARYLAND Cardin (D), Yes Mikulski (D), Yes MASSACHUSETTS Brown (R), No Kerry (D), Yes MICHIGAN Levin (D), Yes Stabenow (D), Yes MINNESOTA Franken (D), Yes Klobuchar (D), Yes MISSISSIPPI Cochran (R), No Wicker (R), No MISSOURI Bond (R), No McCaskill (D), Yes MONTANA Baucus (D), Yes Tester (D), Yes NEBRASKA Johanns (R), No Nelson (D), No NEVADA Ensign (R), No Reid (D), Yes NEW HAMPSHIRE Gregg (R), Yes Shaheen (D), Yes NEW JERSEY Lautenberg (D), Yes Menendez (D), Yes NEW MEXICO Bingaman (D), Yes Udall (D), Yes NEW YORK Gillibrand (D), Yes Schumer (D), Yes NORTH CAROLINA Burr (R), No Hagan (D), Yes NORTH DAKOTA Conrad (D), Yes Dorgan (D), Yes OHIO Brown (D), Yes Voinovich (R), No OKLAHOMA Coburn (R), No Inhofe (R), No OREGON Merkley (D), Yes Wyden (D), Yes PENNSYLVANIA Casey (D), Yes Specter (D), Yes RHODE ISLAND Reed (D), Yes Whitehouse (D), Yes SOUTH CAROLINA DeMint (R), No Graham (R), Yes SOUTH DAKOTA Johnson (D), Yes Thune (R), No TENNESSEE Alexander (R), No Corker (R), No TEXAS Cornyn (R), No Hutchison (R), No UTAH Bennett (R), No Hatch (R), No VERMONT Leahy (D), Yes Sanders (I), Yes VIRGINIA Warner (D), Yes Webb (D), Yes WASHINGTON Cantwell (D), Yes Murray (D), Yes WEST VIRGINIA Goodwin (D), Yes Rockefeller (D), Yes WISCONSIN Feingold (D), Yes Kohl (D), Yes WYOMING Barrasso (R), No Enzi (R), No We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now By — Quinn Bowman Quinn Bowman Quinn Bowman is PBS NewsHour's Capitol Hill producer. @quinnbowman
The U.S. Senate voted 63 to 37 Thursday afternoon to approve Elena Kagan as an associate justice to the Supreme Court, making her the fourth woman to become a justice on the nation’s highest court and the third woman on the current court. President Obama said from Chicago that Kagan’s confirmation was”an affirmation of her character and her temperament; her open-mindedness and evenhandedness; her determination to hear all sides of every story and consider all possible arguments.” Kagan is not expected to dramatically change the ideological balance of the court. She was appointed by President Obama to replace retiring associate justice John Paul Stevens, a reliable vote in the liberal bloc of the court. The vote was mostly along party lines, with five Republican senators and two independents voting with Democrats for her confirmation. Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson was the only senator in his party to join Republicans in voting against her. We’ll have more about the confirmation proceedings on Thursday’s NewsHour broadcast. You can follow our full coverage of her nomination and confirmation process here. Here’s the roll call for Thursday’s vote. A “yes” is a vote to confirm the nomination. State Senators ALABAMA Sessions (R), No Shelby (R), No ALASKA Begich (D), Yes Murkowski (R), No ARIZONA Kyl (R), No McCain (R), No ARKANSAS Lincoln (D), Yes Pryor (D), Yes CALIFORNIA Boxer (D), Yes Feinstein (D), Yes COLORADO Bennet (D), Yes Udall (D), Yes CONNECTICUT Dodd (D), Yes Lieberman (I), Yes DELAWARE Carper (D), Yes Kaufman (D), Yes FLORIDA LeMieux (R), No Nelson (D), Yes GEORGIA Chambliss (R), No Isakson (R), No HAWAII Akaka (D), Yes Inouye (D), Yes IDAHO Crapo (R), No Risch (R), No ILLINOIS Burris (D), Yes Durbin (D), Yes INDIANA Bayh (D), Yes Lugar (R), Yes IOWA Grassley (R), No Harkin (D), Yes KANSAS Brownback (R), No Roberts (R), No KENTUCKY Bunning (R), No McConnell (R), No LOUISIANA Landrieu (D), Yes Vitter (R), No MAINE Collins (R), Yes Snowe (R), Yes MARYLAND Cardin (D), Yes Mikulski (D), Yes MASSACHUSETTS Brown (R), No Kerry (D), Yes MICHIGAN Levin (D), Yes Stabenow (D), Yes MINNESOTA Franken (D), Yes Klobuchar (D), Yes MISSISSIPPI Cochran (R), No Wicker (R), No MISSOURI Bond (R), No McCaskill (D), Yes MONTANA Baucus (D), Yes Tester (D), Yes NEBRASKA Johanns (R), No Nelson (D), No NEVADA Ensign (R), No Reid (D), Yes NEW HAMPSHIRE Gregg (R), Yes Shaheen (D), Yes NEW JERSEY Lautenberg (D), Yes Menendez (D), Yes NEW MEXICO Bingaman (D), Yes Udall (D), Yes NEW YORK Gillibrand (D), Yes Schumer (D), Yes NORTH CAROLINA Burr (R), No Hagan (D), Yes NORTH DAKOTA Conrad (D), Yes Dorgan (D), Yes OHIO Brown (D), Yes Voinovich (R), No OKLAHOMA Coburn (R), No Inhofe (R), No OREGON Merkley (D), Yes Wyden (D), Yes PENNSYLVANIA Casey (D), Yes Specter (D), Yes RHODE ISLAND Reed (D), Yes Whitehouse (D), Yes SOUTH CAROLINA DeMint (R), No Graham (R), Yes SOUTH DAKOTA Johnson (D), Yes Thune (R), No TENNESSEE Alexander (R), No Corker (R), No TEXAS Cornyn (R), No Hutchison (R), No UTAH Bennett (R), No Hatch (R), No VERMONT Leahy (D), Yes Sanders (I), Yes VIRGINIA Warner (D), Yes Webb (D), Yes WASHINGTON Cantwell (D), Yes Murray (D), Yes WEST VIRGINIA Goodwin (D), Yes Rockefeller (D), Yes WISCONSIN Feingold (D), Yes Kohl (D), Yes WYOMING Barrasso (R), No Enzi (R), No We're not going anywhere. Stand up for truly independent, trusted news that you can count on! Donate now