Laura Bush praises Kagan's Supreme Court nomination

WASHINGTON - Laura Bush said Sunday she thinks it's great that Elena Kagan has been nominated for the Supreme Court.

The former first lady said she's "really glad" there would be three women among the nine justices if Kagan wins confirmation. She would join Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor.

Laura Bush told "Fox News Sunday" that women should be represented "in all parts of American political and civic life."

Her husband, former President George W. Bush, nominated Harriet Miers, who was the White House counsel, to the court, but she withdrew after running into opposition from some conservatives.

The Senate's second-ranking Republican said, meanwhile, that Kagan is unlikely to face a GOP filibuster but should expect difficult questions from lawmakers who will decide whether she deserves the lifetime appointment despite having no judicial experience.

"The filibuster should be relegated to the extreme circumstances, and I don't think Elena Kagan represents that," said Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on CBS' "Face the Nation."

The committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), said he hoped to have Kagan on the bench this summer, succeeding retiring Justice John Paul Stevens well ahead of the new term that begins in October.

GOP senators are placing great weight on her testimony in determining the fate of President Barack Obama's second nominee for the high court. At issue is her lack of a judicial paper trail.

Kagan, as solicitor general, the top government lawyer, argues the administration's cases before the Supreme Court, and she was dean of Harvard Law School. But she has never been a judge.

Leahy said he would meet this week with Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the committee's top Republican, to decide when to begin hearings on Kagan. - AP