Sen. Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, spoke in opposition her nomination. "Ms. Kagan has never been a judge and never argued before a jury. She has practiced law for just three years. Ms. Kagan has less real legal experience than any nominee in the last half-century," Sessions said. "Throughout Ms. Kagan's career she has put her politics above the law."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Kagan "not suited to assume a position on this nation's highest court," saying that her career, in his opinion, had not been spent "in the pursuit of the law, but in the art of politics."