[Wolf Blitzer, Anchor:] Rick, thank you. The case for and against the president's new Supreme Court nominee, the Solicitor General, Elena Kagan. What, if anything, could hurt her chances of confirmation? This hour, Kagan's record, her personal history and reaction from the senators who will be judging her. Also a new proposal to send off environmental disaster, fend it off, with garage. Following the new idea, trying to plug that gushing oil spill in the gulf after a giant dome failed to do the trick. And stock prices skyrocket days after a sudden nosedive. Wall Street trader celebrating Europe's trillion dollar rescue plan, but will the enthusiasm last? I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. President Obama today introduced his new Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan as a trailblazing leader. He spoke a lot about her biography including her work as solicitor general and as the first woman dean of Harvard Law School. As you'd expect, no talk of her ideology, but the president made a point of describing his choice to replace the moderate Justice John Paul Stevens as fair-minded and a consensus- builder.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] Because she believes, as I do, that exposure to a broad array of perspectives is the foundation not just for a sound legal education but a very successful life in the law. And this appreciation for diverse views may also come in handy as a diehard Mets' fan serving alongside her new colleague, Yankees' fan Justice Sotamayor who I believe has order a pinstriped robe for the occasion.
[Blitzer:] Kagan went on to talk about there's something she shares with the president and Justice Stevens, a passion for the law.
[Elena Kagan, Supreme Court Nominee:] I've had the simple joy of teaching, of trying to communicate to students why I so love the law not just because it's challenging and endlessly interesting, although it certainly is that, but because law matters, because it keeps us safe, because it protects our most fundamental rights and freedoms, and because it is the foundation of our democracy.
[Blitzer:] Will Elena Kagan be everything President Obama hopes she'll be? A piece of his legacy certainly is at stake as Kagan faces hearings on her confirmation to become the third woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, the current Supreme Court. The fourth female justice in history. Our Senior Congressional correspondent, Dana Bash is standing by. She's got reaction from the senators deciding her fate. Let's go to CNN's Mary Snow for more on Kagan's background. All right, Mary. What are you finding?
[Mary Snow, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, Wolf, take a look at her personal history. Elena Kagan is a native New Yorker and among those who know her, there were early signs she was destined for something big.
[Snow:] Even in her senior year of high school, Elena Kagan posed in a judge's robe with a gavel. Ellen took that picture isn't surprised her former New York City classmate was tapped to become a member of the highest court in the United States. Next to Kagan's yearbook photo, a quote from former Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter reading, government in itself is an art, of one of the subtlest of arts.
[Ellen Purtell, Former Kagan Classmate:] There are always those people that want to be the class president or be the student organization president and make the place better for everybody. And she was one of those people.
[Snow:] More than three decades later, Kagan's two brothers, who are both New York City high school teachers were at the White House for her Supreme Court nomination.
[Kagan:] If this day has just a touch of sadness in it for me, it is because my parents aren't here to share it.
[Snow:] Kagan's father was lawyer. Her mother a schoolteacher. A long time friend who went to law school with her credits Kagan's parents was giving her a sense of purpose. He says from a young age, she's had a judicial temperament.
[John Barrett, Kagan's Friend:] She's a listener, a reader and thinker. She is a person who engages and always had a broad spectrum of friends, of colleagues of interest, and has always been very popular and successful across a wide range.
[Snow:] And because Kagan has never been a judge, it's unclear where she stands on major issues. Her undergraduate days at Princeton where she was a newspaper editor are being scrutinized. Professor Sean Wilentz was Kagan's thesis adviser at Princeton. He's been fielding questions about her these thesis. It examines socialism in New York City from the 1900s to 1933.
[Professor Sean Wilentz, Princeton University:] It can fuse something and people were not strong to realize this because you study something does not mean that you endorse that thing. You're trying to figure out a large historical process.
[Snow:] At Harvard Law School, where she was dean before becoming Solicitor General under the Obama administration, both students and faculty cheered the news of her nomination. They describe her as someone who built bridges during her time there, but she also took a stand. She did not allow military recruiters on campus because of the military's don't ask, don't tell policy.
[Barrett:] Elena, I think, cares deeply about non-discrimination and she cares deeply about national service.
[Snow:] So far, friends and colleagues describe her as open-minded and fair and a good potential fit for the bench. And, Wolf, if Kagan is confirmed, it means that all three female Supreme Court justices are from New York Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Thanks very much. Mary Snow is in New York watching the story. As Solicitor General, Elena Kagan is the top lawyer for the Obama administration. How hard will she have to defend how hard will it be for to defend herself when she faces the Senate confirmation hearings? Let's go to Capitol Hill. Our Senior Congressional correspondent, Dana Bash is getting some early reaction from Democrats and Republicans. Dana, what are you finding out?
[Dana Bash, Cnn Senior Congression Correspondent:] Well, Wolf, it was just last year that Elena Kagan was actually approved for that position as solicitor general. She was approved 61-31. Seven Republicans voted for her, but in talking to senators today, many of them told us that they can't be counted on for that again. Because voting for somebody who is a political appointee for the president is very different from a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court especially for somebody with no judicial experience.
[Bash:] The most common concern from senators who will decide Elena Kagan's fate, the unknown.
[Senator Jon Kyl,  Judiciary Committee:] The lack of experience is a problem. It's also helpful to her confirmation, because there's not a long paper trail of things she's written than might be controversial.
[Bash:] Ironically one of Kagan's few academic articles was in 1995 about the Supreme Court confirmation process, which she mocked as a charade, because nominees on the left and right refused to answer substantive questions. When the Senate seizes to engage nominees in meaningful discussions of legal issues, wrote Kagan, the confirmation process takes on an air of promiscuity and farce. Republicans now say, they plan to hold Kagan to her own standard.
[Senator Jeff Sessions,  Judiciary Committee:] She was very aggressive in saying that judges should speak out on specific cases and issues.
[Bash:] But they may not have much luck. Kagan already backed away from her argument during her hearings last year for solicitor general.
[Kagan:] I'm not sure that sitting here today I would agree with that statement.
[Bash:] Her paper trail may be short, but Elena Kagan did take a position while dean at Harvard Law that Republicans are zeroing in on. She tried to block military recruiters from campus because of the Pentagon's don't ask, don't tell policy towards gays, which she called a moral injustice of the first order. GOP Senator Jon Kyl accused her of this.
[Kyl:] Advancing a gay rights agenda over the Congress' law. So that raises the question whether her own personal beliefs there would interfere with the decision that she might make.
[Bash:] And the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee calls Kagan's position out of touch with reality.
[Sessions:] I think she made a big mistake. Does that disqualify? I don't know. We'll see. But it's a significant issue.
[Bash:] But the Democratic chairman down played the controversy.
[Senator Patrick Leahy,  Judiciary Chairman:] She did come on and say, suspect there were plenty of recruiting officers close by the campus.
[Bash:] That Senator Leahy said that Kagan is being nominated for the Supreme Court. Not for secretary of defense and he insisted that she will be impartial towards the military or anybody else. And, Wolf, despite Republicans' concerns, the number two Republican, the one in charge of counting votes, Jon Kyl, he told me today that he does not think that there will be a Republican filibuster to try to block Kagan's nomination. He said that's unlikely, because she is "nominally qualified."
[Blitzer:] Filibuster, she'll need 51 votes in order to be confirmed. We know there are, what, 59 Democrats, if you count the two independents. Dana, lots more coming up on Elena Kagan. David Axelrod, the president's senior adviser will be joining us as well. Now that the first plans for containing that growing oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico has all but failed, what's it going to take to stop the rig from gushing? We'll have the latest plan of attack. Stand by. And the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai heads to Washington for a meeting with President Obama this week. Some say the relationship between the two countries is strained, others say it's stronger than ever. She's a legendary journalist. Now Barbara Walters is preparing for heart surgery. We're going to tell you why.