Elena Kagan Expected to be Confirmed on Thursday

Wash. Post: Senate poised to confirm Kagan this week, by Paul Kane:

The Senate, tied in knots on almost every other legislative issue, is now on a glide path to confirming Elena Kagan as the fourth woman ever to serve as a Supreme Court justice.

Unable to find consensus on a series of domestic policy issues -- including help for small businesses, financial aid to cash-strapped states and energy legislation -- Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) moved the chamber into several days of debate for Kagan's nomination Tuesday morning.

After coasting through her confirmation hearings in late June and winning approval from the Judiciary Committee two weeks ago, the solicitor general could have been confirmed many days ago.

Instead, Reid's leadership team decided that, whatever else happened in the last weeks of the summer legislative session, they wanted to finish on a high note. So, they set the schedule for Kagan's confirmation to be the last issue debated and voted on, likely Thursday afternoon or evening. The Senate will then recess for a nearly six-week break until mid-September. . . .