The Senate Committee approved President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, on July 20 with a 13-6 vote, which was a final step before she will be granted a seat on the Supreme Court.

“Her confirmation will be historic because once confirmed she will be the third woman on the court, which will represent the highest number of female justices serving at the same time,” Robert Bradley, professor of politics and government, said.

Bradley added that Kagan does not have any prior experience as a judge.

“She is the first nominee without judicial experience in almost three decades” he said.

“There are many people who would argue that the best thing about the Kagan nomination is she’s not a sitting judge,” Michael Gizzi, associate professor of criminal justice sciences, said. “It might provide the court with a different approach.”

“Ideologically, she’ll probably move the court slightly in a more conservative direction even though she was nominated by a Democratic president whom many perceive her to be a strong liberal,” Shamira Gelbman, assistant professor of politics and government, said.

“That is, while she’s not all that conservative herself, she’s replacing Justice Stevens, who is considered to be more liberal than she is. Considering how closely balanced the court has been in terms of ideology in recent years, this can have important effects on which way cases are decided,” she added.

“Personally, I think that it is a positive development for the court as she will bring a different perspective to legal decision-making on the court, and may well be better attuned to the political ramifications of the court’s decisions,” Bradley said.

“Others argue that we can’t have her as a justice; she has no experience judging cases,” Gizzi said. “Because she’s not a judge, she doesn’t have any judicial opinion.”

“From a historical standpoint, though, it’s really only in recent decades that it’s come to be taken for granted that Supreme Court justices should have prior judicial experience,” Gelbman said. “Previously, Supreme Court justices were often politicians, presidential cabinet members or private practice lawyers.”

According to The Chicago Tribune, Republicans are very aggravated with her nomination and also her inexperience because she has “spent most of her career in academia or in policy-making posts in Democratic administrations.”

“A lot of the controversy is just normal partisan politics,” Gizzi said. “The Republicans got beat pretty badly when Obama came into office.”

Gizzi added that there is always some degree of anxiety when a new justice comes on the court because it is a position that carries on long after the term of the president that appointed the candidate.

“It was President Obama’s choice, and he made it,” she said. “She doesn’t fit the traditional mold, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”