美国参议院司法委员会星期一开始为奥巴马提名的最高法院大法官人选艾琳娜.卡根举行确认听证会。
卡根是奥巴马总统第二位最高法院大法官人选，奥巴马总统提名卡根来取代即将退休的大法官约翰.保罗.斯蒂文斯。约翰.保罗.斯蒂文斯是最高法院领头的自由派思想人士。卡根将面对华盛顿共和党委员会成员的尖锐问题。
奥巴马说，批评卡根的人士应该关注她的纪录和证词。他同时说，卡根获得了一些过去和她共事的非常保守的法学家的支持。
如果卡根获得参议院院会的认可，她将成为美国近40年来第一位没有担任过法官经历的大法官。
卡根现年50岁，曾担任过哈佛大学法学院院长。她是美国现任司法部总检察长，在最高法院裁决法律纠纷时，代表美国政府。
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee starts confirmation hearings Monday for President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.
Kagan is the second Supreme Court pick for Mr. Obama, who nominated her to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, the high court’s leading liberal thinker. She is expected to face tough questions from Republican committee members in Washington.
Mr. Obama says Kagan’s critics should pay attention to her record and testimony. He also says she is supported by some very conservative jurists whom she has worked with in the past.
If confirmed by the full Senate, she will be the first justice in nearly 40 years to serve without ever having been a judge.
The 50-year-old Kagan is a former dean of the Harvard University Law School. She is the current U.S. Solicitor General, a post that represents the U.S. government before the Supreme Court.