国际英语新闻：Obama announces Elena Kagan as Supreme Court justice nominee

WASHINGTON, May 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama announced Monday that he has picked Solicitor General Elena Kagan as nominee to become next Supreme Court justice.

Obama made the announcement at the White House, praising Kagan as a fair-minded, consensus-builder and one of the country's best legal minds.

Obama said that Kagan embodies "excellence, independence, integrity and passion for the law, and who can ultimately provide that same kind of leadership on the court."

U.S. President Barack Obama (C) is joined by Vice President Joe Biden (L) while introducing Solicitor General Elena Kagan as his choice to be the nation's 112th Supreme Court justice during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, May 10, 2010. U.S. President Barack Obama announced Monday that he has picked Solicitor General Elena Kagan as nominee to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

"Elena is widely regarded as one of the nation's foremost legal minds...She is a trailblazing leader, the first woman to serve as dean of Harvard Law School, and one of the most successful and beloved deans in its history."

Formerly dean of the prestigious Harvard Law School, Kagan taught law at Harvard and University of Chicago Law School, where Obama also taught. She became an Associate White House legal counsel under former President Bill Clinton. She was the favored pick for Obama rumored in the media, and went through a Senate confirmation process last year to become the first female solicitor general, winning 61 votes.

In the announcement, Obama called on both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate to quickly confirm Kagan's nomination. If confirmed, the 50-year-old Kagan will become the youngest justice on the Supreme Court.

Kagan said she was "honored and humbled by this nomination," which she called "honor of a lifetime."

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy issued a statement shortly after Obama announced this nomination, saying that he expected the Senate to confirm Kagan's nomination by early August.

"Our constituents deserve a civil and thoughtful debate on this nomination, followed by an up-or-down vote," he said.

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said that Republicans would have a heated debate on the nomination, to make sure that "judges must not be a rubber-stamp for any administration...must not walk into court with a preconceived idea of who should win."