NOW PLAYING
Justice Elena Kagan honored late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday, remembering the South Carolina Republican as a “vivid” personality who helped secure her confirmation to the Supreme Court.
Graham died suddenly on Saturday night after a “brief and sudden” illness that was determined to be an aortic dissection. He was 71 years old.
The senator was one of five Republicans who voted for Kagan, a liberal nominated by former President Obama, to join the high court in 2010.
“I’ll just say that I didn’t get many Republican votes when I was confirmed to the Supreme Court, and that’s the usual state of things today,” Kagan said, after offering the court’s condolences to Graham’s family.
“And one would not expect such a cross party, if you will, vote, certainly from somebody from a deep red or deep blue state, and yet Senator Graham voted for me,” she added.
The justice, who is Jewish, recalled a “funny” moment during her confirmation hearing in which Graham asked her where she was on Christmas.
“I think Al Franken said he was the funniest man in the Senate,” Kagan said. “But what I remember about that hearing was that somehow Senator Graham made me look funny, which is a harder thing entirely, by asking me what I had done on Christmas the following year.”
“I’ll skip the back and forth, but many people said to me afterwards that exchange with Senator Graham was the moment my confirmation was sealed,” she continued.
She also recounted how Graham “took the opportunity to get to know” her during the confirmation process by questioning her with “great seriousness and great knowledge” about her record as a solicitor general and the terrorism issues her office dealt with at the time.
“I want to express my gratitude towards him not only for his support but for approaching the confirmation process with the kind of seriousness that he did, and the kind of respect he did,” she said.
Kagan’s aside came at the start of testimony before a House Appropriations subcommittee, during which she and conversative Justice Amy Coney Barrett defended the court’s roughly $225 million budget request for next fiscal year.
The request includes roughly $14.6 million for additional security to protect the justices, their homes and families amid a rise in reported threats to federal judges across the country.
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Al Franken Amy Coney Barrett Elena Kagan Lindsey Graham ObamaCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments: Link copiedMore Court Battles News
See All
House Kagan, Coney Barrett break on whether high court needs independent ethics code panel by Ashleigh Fields 25 minutes ago House / 25 minutes ago 
