Elena Kagan talks about her life, career and the Supreme Court with Princeton President

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Elena Kagan, the fourth woman and 11th Princeton alumnus to sit on the Supreme Court, received the Wilson Award from Princeton University for her work as a trailblazing legal scholar dedicated to justice and service. Before being appointed to the Court in 2010, Kagan served as U.S. solicitor general, was dean of Harvard Law School, and worked as associate White House counsel and deputy assistant for domestic policy in the Clinton administration. “Elena’s service to the nation is an inspiration to the entire Princeton community,” Dean of the College Michael Gordin, the Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, said in his introduction, lauding her as “a champion for justice and democracy.” Kagan then participated in a conversation with President Christopher L. Eisgruber, who began by asking how Princeton had influenced her life and career. Kagan said the University’s informal motto of being “in the nation’s service and the service of humanity” is something that she and fellow alumni take to heart. “It turns out that doing that is not really a sacrifice. It turns out it’s been the most meaningful part of my life,” she said. This year’s Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize winners — seniors Avi Attar and Jennifer Nwokeji — exemplify Princeton students who use their education to make a difference in their communities and the world, she noted. Kagan also credited Princeton as the place where she learned to write well — especially as part of the Daily Princetonian’s editorial board and in writing her senior thesis. She acknowledged her thesis adviser, Sean Wilentz, the George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History. Eisgruber, a constitutional scholar and former Supreme Court law clerk, also asked Kagan to talk about how the Supreme Court functions “behind the scenes.” Kagan discussed how her approach differs when she writes a majority opinion or a dissent. Writing for the majority calls for a focus on how a new law will be applied, she said, whereas in dissents “you really don’t have that.” “I ratchet my style up when I’m writing dissents,” she said, “because I feel sometimes it’s the style that really gets people to pay attention and to think about things.” She also emphasized how seriously Supreme Court justices take their jobs and the court’s role in America. At the same time, she said, the public is “absolutely entitled” to have opinions about court decisions. Eisgruber ended by asking what advice Kagan might offer today’s students. “We have to be able to listen to other people who are saying different things and to learn from those people,” she said. Listening to opposing opinions, and sometimes questioning your own, offers a way forward, where “in the end, a polarized society can become less so.”