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Another New Yorker Joins The Supreme Court

NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- After nearly three months of intense scrutiny, over 80 one-on-one meetings with senators, and more than 17 hours of testimony, New York native Elena Kagan was officially sworn in Saturday as the fourth woman to serve on the Supreme Court, CBS 2's Dave Carlin reports.

"I think we can all agree that 'Justice Elena Kagan' has a pretty nice ring to it," President Obama said.

The New York native certainly thinks so. "Thank you for the honor you've given me and the trust you've placed in me by nominating me to the Supreme Court. I am deeply grateful," Kagan said.

Kagan was born and raised on the Upper West Side. She attended hunter college high school where she got her judicial start early by serving as president of the student government.

She went on to become the first female dean of Harvard Law and later, the first female U.S. solicitor general.

On the day she was nominated, her former teachers, along with students at Hunter, watched with pride.

"Every kid at Hunter's going to be proud to have somebody that they sort of know, have a connection with," said senior Gianni Di Ciocco.

"She seems very fiesty," said senior Isabel Patkowski.

Perhaps it's that New York fiestiness that allowed Kagan to not only get through hours of grueling confirmation testimony on Capitol Hill, but sail through them with apparent ease and even humor.

Asked where she was on Christmas Day, Kagan answered in the testimony, "like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant."

Chief Justice John Roberts was to swear in Kagan two times. She was to recite one oath as prescribed by the Constitution during a private ceremony in a conference room at the court with only her family present.

Then Roberts was to administer a second oath, taken by judges, with Kagan's family, friends and reporters present.

Kagan won't be formally installed as a justice until October 1 in a courtroom ceremony at the start of the Court's new term.

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