Harvard law dean reportedly in line for solicitor general

Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan is a leading candidate to be President-elect Barack Obama's representative at the US Supreme Court, Bloomberg is reporting this afternoon.

Bloomberg, quoting "people familiar with the selection process," says Kagan, the first female dean at Harvard law school, and former Stanford Law School Dean Kathleen Sullivan are the two top contenders for solicitor general, a post that might be a step toward a seat on the Supreme Court itself.

Kagan, 48, became a top candidate for solicitor general after being passed over for deputy attorney general, a slot set to go to Washington lawyer David Ogden, people familiar with the selection process said.

Bloomberg says that Kagan, seen by some people involved in the transition as the favorite for solicitor general, would likely garner bipartisan support. She won plaudits from liberals and conservatives alike for smoothing over the ideological tensions that plagued the Harvard Law School faculty before she became dean in 2003.

Kagan, who has never argued a Supreme Court case, has a long-standing connection to Obama. The two worked on the University of Chicago Law School faculty at the same time during the 1990s.