At request of Republican senators, vote on Kagan put off to next Tuesday

By Mark Arsenault, Globe Staff

At the request of Republican senators, the Senate Judiciary Committee will put off for one week the vote on the Supreme Court nomination of former Harvard Law School dean Elena Kagan. The vote on whether to recommend Kagan to the full Senate will be next Tuesday, said Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat, who announced his support for Kagan this morning.

Ranking Republican member Jeff Sessions, of Alabama, made the request for the delay this morning, saying that there were "concerns about the nomination on a host of different areas." Any senator has the right to delay a committee vote for a week.

Senate leadership still expects to hold a final vote on the nomination before Congress leaves Washington for the August recess.