Just under half of Americans have been following news about the appointment of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, a new CBS News poll finds. Still, more than seven in 10 Americans have not yet formed an opinion of her - which is not unusual this early in the nomination process.

Now, 16 percent have a favorable view of Kagan, according to the poll, conducted May 20 - 24. Eleven percent have an unfavorable view.

President Obama nominated Kagan earlier this month to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. As solicitor general, Kagan has served as the federal government's top lawyer. If confirmed by the Senate, she will be the fourth woman to ever join the Supreme Court...

(CNSNews.com) – Elena Kagan, President Barack Obama’s choice to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court, is best known for moving Harvard Law School away from the 100-year old “case-law method” of legal study.

But in the process, critics say, she moved the nation’s premier law school away from requiring the study of U.S. constitutional law towards the study of the laws of foreign nations and international law.

As dean, Kagan won approval from the faculty in 2006 to make major changes to the Harvard Law's curriculum...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- More American voters say they have an unfavorable view of pro-abortion Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan than a favorable one. But a new Rasmussen Reports poll shows they also believe it likely that the Senate will vote to confirm President Barack Obama's second pro-abortion pick for the high court.

The survey, released today, shows 41% of U.S. voters now hold a favorable opinion of Kagan but 47% view her unfavorably, up from 43% a week ago and 39% just after President Obama announced her nomination.

With Senate hearings on Kagan’s nomination set to begin June 28, 36% of voters now favor her confirmation, but 39% are opposed. One-out-of-four (25%) are undecided.

The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee warned Monday that he would seek to slow Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's path to confirmation unless senators get full access to her files as a Clinton administration aide.

"We're heading to what could be a train wreck," Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama said. "I don't believe that this committee can go forward with an adequate hearing" without all records from Ms. Kagan's tenure as a White House counsel and then domestic policy adviser to President Clinton.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, the Judiciary Committee chairman, last week set hearings to begin on June 28. Mr. Sessions said Republicans would ask for a delay unless senators get access to the tens of thousands of pages of Clinton-era records by then...

A leaked memo from Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan is raising eyebrows among pro-life groups.

Kagan wrote the memo to then-President Bill Clinton when she served as White House counsel, suggesting that while he should not support H.R. 1122 -- the partial-birth abortion ban bill before Congress at that ime -- she felt he should support the amendment offered by Democratic Senator Tom Daschle. That amendment, she argued, would give abortionists the ability to decide when and to what child the bill applies.

Mary Harned, an attorney with Americans United for Life (AUL), tells OneNewsNow the Justice Department indicated serious questions about whether proposed amendments would pass constitutional muster. But according to Harned, in the memo Kagan "goes on to actually suggest that the president support the Daschle language anyway for political reasons. So even though she had just stated that there's concern that it's unconstitutional, she still urged him to support it"...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Elena Kagan's reliance on foreign law for statutory interpretation presents another concern for pro-life advocates, says Americans United for Life in a new memo about President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee. The pro-life legal group says Kagan could use it as another basis to support legal abortions.

The use of foreign law in defending unlimited abortion "rights" as laid out in Roe v. Wade is nothing new for the pro-life movement.

It came up during the confirmation hearings on pro-abortion Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who pledged not to use it...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Barack Obama has seen has approval ratings decline in the aftermath of his selecting pro-abortion Solicitor general Elena Kagan for the open Supreme Court position. Obama's approval ratings are at one of their lowest points in the last month and heading back down to their health care-dominated levels.

The Rasmussen Reports daily presidential tracking poll for Thursday shows 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance.

That compares with 53 percent who disapprove -- giving Obama an overall -8 percentage point approval rating...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman moved quickly Wednesday to advance Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan down a so-far smooth road to confirmation, setting hearings for June 28.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, said the schedule should allow the hearings to be completed before senators go home for a weeklong break in early July. In announcing it, Mr. Leahy was seizing the momentum building behind Miss Kagan's nomination just over a week after President Obama selected her to succeed retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

"I would urge everybody to come to the hearing with an open mind, listen to her answers to those questions, and we will make sure that every senator -- both sides of the aisle -- has ample time to ask the questions they want," Mr. Leahy said...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Further analysis of the controversial memo Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan wrote for ex-President Bill Clinton on the subject of partial-birth abortion provides new concerns for pro-life advocates. It shows she regarded the ban on the abortion procedure as unconstitutional.

The new analysis from Americans United for Life also indicates Kagan would likely be hostile to any pro-life laws that may come before the Supreme Court.

President Barack Obama appointed his pro-abortion Solicitor General for the open seat vacated by retiring pro-abortion Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens...

(CNSNews.com) – If confirmed to the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan may have to recuse herself if the health care reform law comes before the high court. This is the case because as solicitor general of the United States in the Obama administration, Kagan may have helped craft a legal defense of the law or given advice to Congress or the White House on how to draft the statute.

Historically, Supreme Court justices recuse themselves from hearing cases in which they have previously been involved. Kagan, who as solicitor general is responsible for defending the federal government in federal court and before the Supreme Court, may have been involved in responding to lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the health care reform.

To date, more than 13 state attorneys general have filed lawsuits, challenging the legality and constitutionality of the health care bill that Obama signed into law in March...