The Conversation: Elena Kagan Nominated to Supreme Court

May 10, 2010— -- After weeks of speculation, President Obama announced his choice to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court today -- Elena Kagan.

A 50-year-old, raised on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Kagan has served as the Dean of Harvard Law School and is currently U.S. Solicitor General, with years of legal experience but no time serving on the judicial bench.

If her nomination is confirmed, Kagan will be the third woman currently seated on the court. It would also mark the first time that Court would have no Protestant members, as Kagan, who is Jewish, replaces the sole Protestant, John Paul Stevens.

Today, Diane Sawyer spoke with Politico's Mike Allen about the nomination and the Obama administration's strategy to sell it.

"She'll pass easily, but not with a big margin," Allen told Sawyer, noting that the seven Republicans who voted to confirm Kagan as Solicitor General cannot be counted as definite "yes" votes for the Supreme Court.

Allen said that one Republican told him, "She hasn't spent a day in a robe."

But the Obama Administration will argue that her legal experience has prepared her well for the job, and that her arguments in front of the Court as Solicitor General have already given her a great personal rapport with the other justices.

Allen also shares the five phrases the White House wants its spokespeople to use as they promote Kagan on television and other media outlets in the coming days and weeks. Can you play BINGO with his checklist?

All of that and more in today's Conversation.