Kagan says 'steep learning curve' on Supreme Court

[December 14, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan says she is facing a "steep learning curve" in her first months on the bench as she is drafting her first opinions and trying to acclimate to life as a judge.

In her first interview since joining the court in August, Kagan tells the C-SPAN cable network that there will not be many more cases that she has to sit out because of her previous work for the Obama administration. Kagan has taken herself out of more than two dozen cases so far, but says the numbers are "definitely subsiding."

She also says she reads Supreme Court briefs on a Kindle, in contrast to the iPad used by Justice Antonin Scalia.

C-SPAN provided excerpts of the 48-minute interview on Monday.

[Associated Press]

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