Law School Dean Kagan Nominated To Be U.S. Solicitor General

Harvard Law School (HLS) dean Elena Kagan will be nominated to serve as Solicitor General of the United States, according to an announcement by President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team. In that role, she will represent the government before the Supreme Court.

President Drew Faust commented, “This represents a remarkable honor and opportunity for Elena, and I join in wishing her all the best in the confirmation hearings to come. More than that, I want to take this moment to recognize Elena’s extraordinary accomplishments since her appointment as dean. Thanks to the efforts she has guided, the faculty is even stronger, the student experience is richer, the curriculum is fresher, and the school continues to enhance its worldwide leadership in legal education and scholarship.”

Faust expects to appoint an acting dean, and then to launch a search for Kagan’s successor. Kagan became dean in 2003.

In her message to the HLS community, Kagan wrote, “If confirmed by the Senate, I will resign the deanship of the Law School and take a leave of absence from the faculty.

“I have accepted this nomination,” she continued,” because it offers me the opportunity, working under the leadership of the President-elect and his nominee for Attorney General, Eric Holder, to help advance this nation’s commitment to the rule of law at what I think is a critical time in our history.  I am honored and grateful, awestruck and excited, to be asked to contribute to this most important endeavor.  And perhaps, for me, it adds a special touch of sweetness to the occasion that the person making the nomination, in whose capacity for greatness I deeply believe, is himself a member of the group to which I am writing.”

For President-elect Barack Obama’s HLS ties, see here. For more about Kagan and the law school, see here and additional articles on her appointment and on the school’s new curriculum.