By Nina Mandell
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Upper West Sider Elena Kagan tried to soothe skeptics on Day 1 of her confirmation hearings, promising modesty and restraint if she is confirmed as the newest Supreme Court justice.
Kagan gave her opening statement Monday in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C. Questioning begins Tuesday.
The Obama administration is hoping the tough-talking solicitor general will cruise through any harsh questions the Senate Republicans have in this week’s Supreme Court nomination hearings.
Elena Kagan, who grew up in Manhattan and attended Hunter College High School on the Upper East Side, will likely become the fourth woman to join the Supreme Court. She is also the second New Yorker that Obama has nominated for the highest court — Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s first nominee, is from the Bronx.
Teachers who knew Kagan during her tenure at Hunter College told WPIX news that they were thrilled over the nomination.
“I knew it when the opening came, I knew that she would get that nomination,” said Sandra Miley, a physical education teacher at Hunter.
Cantor Sherwood Goffin of Lincoln Square Synagogue, where Kagan received her religious instruction, was paying close attention to Monday's hearings via radio.
Goffin remembers her as a "warm and compassionate" kid and said he hoped his instruction would prove handy to Kagan.
"We taught her traditional Jewish values, among them social justice and concern for the disadvantaged," Goffin said. "That’s part of Judaism. Perhaps that’s still with her."
She was also a young groundbreaker, Goffin said. Kagan suggested that the synagogue allow girls to celebrate the bar mitzah ceremony that marks a young person's entry into adulthood. Before then, the traditional synagogue allowed only boys to participate.
"She was a pioneer, I guess," Goffin said Monday afternoon. "That shows a little bit of character."
Kagan breezed through her confirmation hearing for her current position as solicitor general a little over a year ago, but confirmations of Supreme Court positions are usually more contentious.
Republicans are expected to paint her as a liberal, while much of Kagan’s views are fairly shielded. The GOP also lacks the necessary votes to block Kagan’s nomination.
If confirmed, Kagan, who is Jewish and only 50 years old, will become the third woman and the the youngest member of the court. Her confirmation would also mark the first time the court will have no Protestant judges.
