Kagan moves step closer to Supreme Court appointment

US Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, has moved a step closer to becoming President Barack Obama’s second appointee to the court after winning the approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Democratic-led panel voted 13-6 to recommend that the full Senate confirm the former Harvard Law school dean to replace Justice John Paul Stevens, who had been the court’s leading liberal.

Kagan is not expected to change the ideological balance of the court, which in recent years has often ruled 5-4 with a conservative majority.