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But what you've just heard, that exchange with chief justice roberts is not just an example of the vague kind of situation in which elena kagan would need to be persuasive as a supreme court justice, that was the actual guy she would be trying to super suepersuade every day rest of this job. roberts didn't sound all that persuaded in that back and forth. to the extent the court matters in terms of what american policy is, the leaders on the court matter in terms of defining what american policy is. it's not just the chief justice, it's the center of gravity on the court. who effects it, who's ...

Law and administrative law. >> he taught, president obama taught constitutional law as well. is that right? >> that's correct. >> so was it exactly the same subject or different aspects of constitutional law? >> well, i think elena specialized more in the first amendment and president obama taught a separate -- he taught the basic constitutional law course and also taught a course on race in the law. >> josh, when you worked with her at the white house for president clinton, she was not a lawyer. she worked in domestic policy. >> she was also a lawyer earlier. >> earlier she was an associate c...

A host of concerns arose since and well before today's announcement. mr. obama's nominee would make history, giving the court three women simultaneously and not a single protestant. mr. obama was interested in finding a judge who could at least on occasion win over what remains of the swing vote on the high court, most noticeably justice kennedy. made explicit today as one of the criteria -- >> but elena's respected and admired not just for her intellect and record of achievement but also her temperament, her openness to a broad array of viewpoints. her habit, to borrow a phrase from justice s...

Elena is respected for her intellect and temperament, her openness to a broad array of viewpoints. her habit, to borrow a phrase from justice stevens, of understanding before disagreeing. her fair mindedness and skill has a consensus builder. >> if you look at her uniquability to both listen to and appeal to conservatives even though she has not considered herself to be a conservative. elena kagan is the kind of nominee who will be able to build unexpected coalitions through her openness, her

Elena is respected and admired not just for her intellect and record of achievement but also for her temperament. her openness to a broad array of viewpoints. her habit, to borrow a phrase from justice stevens, of understanding before disagreeing. her fair-mindedness and skill as a consensus builder. >> all right. welcome back to "morning joe." a live look at the white house as the sun comes up this morning over washington. with us now from the white house, nbc news white house correspondent and cohost of "the daily rundown" on msnbc, savannah guthrie. savannah, good morning. >> reporter: good...