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Drown out the voices of ordinary citizens. i think it says a great deal about the path elena has chosen. someone as gifted as elena could have settled into a comfortable life in a corporate law practice. instead, she chose a life of service. service to her students, to her country, to the law and to all those whose lives it shapes. given elena's upbringing it's a choice that probably came naturally. elena is the granddaughter of immigrants whose mother was for 20 years a beloved public school teacher as are her two brothers who are here today. her father was a housing lawyer devoted to the rig...

Supreme court. the first woman in that position as well. she has won accolades from observers across the ideological spectrum for her well reasoned arguments and commanding presence. elena is respected not just for her intellect but 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. these traits were evident during her tenure as dean. at a time when many believed that the harvard faculty had gotten one-sided in its viewpoint she sought to rec...

Analyst is with us. you have known her since you were both students at harvard. tell us something we should know about elena kagan. >> i think what you see is what you get with elena. she's confident, intelligent. she is short. you saw all of that today in the ceremony in the east room. you know, starting when we were 23 years old as first-year law students, she was someone who figured out ways to get along with people of diverse viewpoints. at harvard law school in the '80s it was a politically polarized place. on the law review where we worked, the magazine, lots of people had very different...

Both drilled into me the importance of service, character and integrity. elena has spoken movingly about how her mother had grown up at a time when women had few opportunities to pursue their ambitions and took great joy in watching her daughter do so. neither she nor elena's father lived to see this day, but i think her mother would relish this moment. i think she would relish, as i do, the prospect of three women taking their seat on the nation's highest court for the first time in history. [ applause ] >> a court that would be more inclusive, more reflereflectivee representative of us as a ...

Integrity. elena has also spoken movingly about how her mother had grown up at a time when women are few opportunities to pursue their ambitions and took great joy in watching her daughter do so. neither she nor elena's father lived to see this day, but i think her mother would relish this moment. she would relish, as i do, the prospect of three women taking their seat on the nation's highest court for the first time in history. [ applause ] a court that would be more inclusive, representative, reflective of us as a people than ever before. and i think they would be tremendously proud of their...