| REUTERS “We studied the bicentennial the way medical students study the kidney — from every direction,” she said. And in the early 1970s he was chairman of both Community Board 7 and Combo, a committee of West Side neighborhood groups battling Westway, a project that would have extended the western shore of Manhattan with landfill, buried a new highway underneath a park and created commercial development and tens of thousands of apartments. Education She received an A.B., summa cum laude, in … 2010 - Present: Associate justice, Supreme Court of the United States Clearly, Gloria approved of brilliance in girls. She taught at Hunter elementary, the public school for New York City's smartest kids. She was previously Dean of Harvard Law School, from July 1, 2003 to March 19, 2009, and the United States Solicitor General, from March 19, 2009 to May 17, 2010. WHILE a student at Princeton University, Elena Kagan made reference to her older brother’s “involvement in radical causes” as an inspiration for her senior thesis on the Socialist movement in New York. By Lisa W. Foderaro and Christine Haughney. He was bound for Brooklyn, she for South Philadelphia. Elena Kagan Biography, Life, Interesting Facts Childhood and Early Life. This spring, in a letter to The Chief-Leader, a civil service employees’ newspaper, Mr. Kagan compared the attempts by Joel I. Klein, the schools chancellor, to end teacher seniority protections to Goldman Sachs’s alleged misdeeds. I often spoke with her over the years, coming and going in the lobby or in the elevator. Afterwards, I thought about it. with a roll of her eyes. Justice Kagan is the daughter of Gloria (Gittelman) and Robert Kagan. Then came the day of Elena's appointment as first woman dean of Harvard Law. “It is a spiritual pollution of the values that we should uphold. Elena Kagan, Associate Justice, was born in New York, New York, on April 28, 1960. Sally Goodgold, a former chairwoman of Community Board 7, recalled the morning she got an early call from Mr. Kagan, who was determined to stop workers who had taken chainsaws to several trees in Riverside Park. “Dealing with tenant groups, we were out sometimes four nights a week, and weekends too,” Mr. Lubic said. Elena Kagan Fans Also Viewed . We lost two very big trees, but that was it.”. in 1986. Her mother was a public school teacher committed to helping her students realize their potential. It is another step away from civilized behavior toward the idea that only might makes right.”, The Kagan Family: Left-Leaning and Outspoken. “I did talk to her about calming down and told her that they are still children and have a ways to go,” said Dr. Seidman, who is now director of the private Columbia Grammar School on the Upper West Side. Elena’s father was a Ho 10 partner at Kagan & Lubic law firm located in Manhattan. One of the first co-op conversions they handled was at 320 West End Avenue, a gracious 15-story structure where the Kagans had moved. Elena Kagan's father was an attorney who worked for a law firm that handled cases involving tenants' rights. As a high-school kid in a Philadelphia public school in the early 1960s, I was a smart, nerdy girl who cherished ambitions that were pretty much out of reach for girls then. “In almost all cases, it wasn’t anger that was vicious. Mr. Kagan, who died in 1994, was not above the theatrical gesture. ROBERT KAGAN, son of a Russian Jewish immigrant who manufactured and sold hats and clothing in New York, worked for several years in corporate and tax law. Ruth … Mr. Kagan and fellow opponents railed against Westway, saying it would generate more traffic and degrade the environment; a decisive blow to the project came from concern about its impact on striped bass in the Hudson. “Bob was one of these people really committed to the law, not to the financial monuments but to the principle, and using it to help people.”. Oh, Gloria, I thought, not you too! Mohammad Nauman, a senior, recalled Mr. Kagan trying to find ways to energize the class, like ordering students to run up and down stairs when they studied the concept of horsepower. Kagan added that “My parents’ lives and their memory remind me every day of the impact public service can have, and I pray every day that I live up to the example they set.” Kagan is the Court's 112th justice and fourth female justice. When President Obama announced Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court this morning, he noted her previous important firsts: She was the first woman Dean of Harvard Law School and the first female Solicitor General of the United States. She was the second born in a family of three children and her parents were Jewish. Kagan has two brothers, Marc and Irving. Toader Mateoc, a senior who took Mr. Kagan’s constitutional law course, said that he played devil’s advocate with the left-leaning students in the classroom as well as a boy who claims Robert Bork as his judicial idol. Elena Kagan was born on 28 April 1960, in New York City, in a middle-class Jewish family. As President Barack Obama (D) pointed out, his Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, is "the granddaughter of immigrants." Huge achievements. Her mother was a teacher. Elena Kagan was a star pupil in her Hebrew school on the Upper West Side. US Associate Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan was born in New York City on the 28 April 1960 to Robert Kagan, an attorney and Gloria Gittleman, a teacher. Stanley Seidman, a former principal at the school, remembers speaking to Mrs. Kagan about her occasional outbursts. Elena Kagan (2010-present) Recent Decisions by Justice Kagan Biographical Data Birth, Residence, and Family Elena Kagan, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court was born in New York, New York, on April 28, 1960. ON a crowded train somewhere in Pennsylvania in the aftermath of World War II, Robert Kagan gave up his seat to Gloria Gittelman, a fellow student from Pennsylvania State University, on a trip home during a school holiday. “Roger didn’t like dissent,” said Mr. Saly, who was later forced out himself by Mr. Toussaint, only to return. Barack Obama. After attending two of the nation’s most exalted educational institutions, the Dalton School and Yale, Marc Kagan appeared to purposefully descend the class ladder. So it was not too surprising after she turned 12 that she wanted to mark her coming of age with a bat mitzvah. They sent Elena to an all-girls public high-school where she learned that she could achieve any goal she sought. True, all true, but not the whole story. In 1984, he became a mechanic at the 207th Street subway yard in Upper Manhattan, operating a forklift, among other responsibilities. US President. Elena Kagan has served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, since August 7, 2010. But others, like Aja Colon, a 16-year-old junior, saw a stricter side of Mr. Kagan, who also serves as a disciplinary dean. Surely, It's complicated. Mr. Kagan was fired from the union, as were several associates. But, really, that was just a path to becoming a Supreme Court Justice. But for the student who might be a little more creative or messy, I think it was really hard.”. Irving Kagan, the youngest, beat a quick path to teaching at Hunter College High School, where many of his students ask to remain on his e-mail list of recommended reading after they graduate. She is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving since August 7, 2010. "Gloria," I exclaimed, "you must be so proud! Elena grew up to become dean of Harvard Law School and President Obama’s solicitor general, and if the Senate confirms her after hearings that begin on June 28, she would be the 112th justice of the United States Supreme Court. Kagan was born on April 28, 1960, in Manhattan, the second of three children of Robert Kagan, an attorney who represented tenants trying to remain in their homes, and Gloria (Gittelman) Kagan, who taught at Hunter College Elementary School. “Her value system was to learn something: don’t fritter away your time being 12.”, At home, Mrs. Kagan, who retired in 1991 and died in 2008, apparently had a lighter touch with her own children. With an eye-roll and a tone so reminiscent of her mother, our newest nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States said dryly, "My mother only wanted me to get married. Among other issues, he objected to the fact that the contract relied on a bonus of $1,000 in the third year, rather than a raise, so it would not count toward workers’ pensions or future salary increases. For many, it would turn out to be the investment of a lifetime: the Kagan children sold their family’s 1,700-square-foot apartment, 3B — a “classic 6,” with two bedrooms and a maid’s room — last year for $1.325 million. But I wasn't fooling anybody. When Gloria died a couple of years ago, I took the elevator down to her apartment where her family was receiving callers. 60 Year Olds. I'd researched some of my senior papers at Penn's law library and read and written about constitutional law. Obama.). Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. He was known as an institutionalist who promoted a view of the Court as … “He yells,” Ms. Colon said. “There are teachers of different political persuasions, and we’d have debates and arguments that sometimes got really heated,” said Sue Leung Eichler, a former social studies teacher. “We all did — as soon as you could count,” recalled her brother, Stanley Gittelman, a dentist who lives in Philadelphia. “He encouraged the kind of honest public debate over major policy issues that is sadly lacking today,” recalled Marcy Benstock, executive director of the Clean Air Campaign, who was instrumental in defeating Westway. He’s a fan of that.”, Mr. Kagan has also pressed the Bronx Science administration to make sure teachers have time for professional development, said a colleague, Gary Hom, a physics teacher who described Mr. Kagan as “always on the side of teachers.”. The Kagan family in 1970. New York, NY — Senate confirmation hearings begin Monday afternoon in Washington for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan.