And Elena Makes Three

It's a great sign of progress that Elena Kagan's gender is almost a footnote in her nomination.  To date, women on the court have been a novelty rather than the norm.  Trailblazer and westerner Sandra Day O'Connor was nominated by President Reagan to the Supreme Court 29 years ago (1981), over 200 years into our country's history; twelve years later (1993), the second female justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was confirmed. Sonia Sotomayor came 16 years later (2009).  And now Kagan in 2010. If confirmed, that brings the total of women on the Court to three.   It's not quite yet commonplace, but the momentum feels great.