How Do You Become A Supreme Court Justice By Age 50?

Kagan's reputation for bringing together liberals and conservatives on Harvard's notoriously fractious law school faculty appears to hold the key to her rapid rise.

...When Kagan took over as the first female law dean at Harvard, she called the challenge exciting and scary - "but scary in the way that all exciting things are scary." And she pledged to draw on the political and people skills she had developed while serving in government.