Introduction
(Paul J. Richards/Getty Images)
Solicitor General Elena Kagan appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill.
The roughly six weeks since President Obama announced Solicitor General Elena Kagan as his Supreme Court nominee have brought an only-in-the-Communications-Age flood of Kagan-alia. You can go online and read thousands of E-mails from her days in the Clinton administration. Or you can read a slew of profiles and close examinations of each of her public utterances and writings.
Here's what we've learned: Barring an extraordinary Judiciary Committee meltdown this week, Kagan will be confirmed.
But even if the conclusion seems foregone, the process will not be without meaning. Here's what to watch and why:
