Wash Po-Kagan Newest Member of the Supreme Court

photo credit: The Globe and Mail/Brendan Smialowsky/Getty Images

(Story reported by Paul Kane)

The Senate confirmed Elena Kagan Thursday as the 112th justice to the Supreme Court, making her the fourth woman ever to sit on the high court.

On a 63-37 vote, Kagan, 50, became President Obama's second lifetime appointment to the court in the past year -- the vote was held 365 days after Sonia Sotomayor won 68 votes for her confirmation as the court's first Latina justice.

Five Senate Republicans supported Kagan to succeed retired Justice John Paul Stevens. One Democrat, Ben Nelson (Neb.), was opposed. Kagan, a self-described progressive, is not likely to tilt the court in a different direction, given Stevens' role as a leading liberal jurist the past three decades.

(click here to read the full story on the Washington Post website)