Kagan

Nominee for Solicitor General; Dean, Harvard Law School

Age: 48

Details: She won glowing praise from some conservatives as well as liberals for her personal skills, judgment and legal acumen as dean since 2003. She clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall, practiced at a Washington law firm, taught law at the University of Chicago (as did President Obama) and worked in the Clinton White House. Because Republicans stalled her 1999 nomination to a federal appeals court, she lacks judicial experience, as do some other prospects. Conservatives also criticize her for signing a brief seeking to strike down a law withholding federal money from schools that refuse equal access to military recruiters -- a position rejected unanimously by the Supreme Court.

Next: Sonia Sotomayor