Kagan on SCOTUS: The whole thing is a pretty good gig'.

Byline: Barbara L. Jones

Some pundits say that Supreme Court justices tend to vote against the advocate during whose argument the justice made a joke. If that's true, Justice Elena Kagan will rule against the crowd at the University of Minnesota.

The personable justice began her appearance on Oct. 21 with a warm hug with law school Dean Garry Jenkins who introduced her at the annual Stein Lecture, sponsored by Professor Robert Stein, a 1961 graduate of the school, former dean and former executive director of the American Bar Association.

Stein began his Q & A by asking Kagan what was the best part of being a Supreme Court justice.

"Hearing introductions like [Jenkins']," Kagan replied. "I feel like we could call it a day and go home." But she didn't.

Kagan made it clear that, as she said, it is hard not to love the job, which is a tremendous responsibility and also a lot of fun. "The whole thing is a pretty good gig."

(Kagan, you may recall, was asked at her confirmation hearing by Sen. Lindsey Graham ((R-S.C.)) how she spent Christmas. "Like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant,"she replied.)

Kagan was appointed to the court in 2010 by President Barack Obama. She had no judicial experience before her appointment but a wide variety of other experience. She clerked for Judge Abner Mikva of the D.C. Circuit and Justice Thurgood Marshall at the Supreme Court. She was a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, associate counsel and deputy assistant to President Bill Clinton, then professor at Harvard Law School, and then dean of the law school. She became Solicitor General in 2009 and was appointed to the court in 2010.

Kagan said her experience gave her a good understanding of the court the Solicitor General is sometimes called "the tenth justice" -- with the exception of the conference room. It was "inspiring" to see the collegial and vigorous debate among the justices, she said. "We quite like each other."

But dissents happen. Last June, the court split 5-4 in Rucho v. Common Cause, a case about gerrymandering, where Kagan read her...