Who Is Elena Kagan? Age, Biography and Wiki
Elena Kagan was born on April 28, 1960, making her 65 years old in 2025. She has had a distinguished career, serving as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court since her appointment in 2010. Before her tenure on the Supreme Court, Kagan was the Solicitor General of the United States and served as the Dean of Harvard Law School. Kagan is known for her articulate legal mind, advocating for progressive values within the framework of the U.S. Constitution.
| Occupation | Supreme Court Justice |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | April 28, 1960 |
| Age | 65 Years |
| Birth Place | New York City, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Taurus |
| Country | U.S |
Popularity
Elena Kagan's Popularity over time
Height, Weight & Measurements
Elena Kagan stands at a height of approximately 5 feet 4 inches (163 cm). While specific details regarding her weight are not publicly available, her overall physique reflects her healthy lifestyle. Kagan's exact body measurements, including dress size and shoe size, are also not widely documented, as she prefers to maintain a level of privacy regarding her personal life.
Family, Dating & Relationship Status
As of 2025, Elena Kagan has kept her personal life relatively private, and she is not publicly known to be in a relationship. Kagan has never been married, and reports suggest she does not have any children. Throughout her career, she has focused extensively on her work and has maintained a low profile regarding her dating life, leading many to speculate about her relationship status.
Kagan and her family lived in a third-floor apartment at West End Avenue and 75th Street, and attended Lincoln Square Synagogue. She was independent and strong-willed in her youth and, according to a former law partner of her father's, clashed with her Orthodox rabbi, Shlomo Riskin, over aspects of her bat mitzvah.
"She had strong opinions about what a bat mitzvah should be like, which didn't parallel the wishes of the rabbi," her father's colleague said. Kagan and Riskin negotiated a solution. Riskin had never performed a ritual bat mitzvah before.
She "felt very strongly that there should be ritual bat mitzvah in the synagogue, no less important than the ritual bar mitzvah. This was really the first formal bat mitzvah we had", he said. Kagan asked to read from the Torah on a Saturday morning as the boys did, but ultimately read from the Book of Ruth on a Friday night.
She now practices Conservative Judaism.
Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Justice Kagan's net worth is estimated to be around $8 million. Her salary as a Supreme Court Justice is approximately $285,000 annually, as mandated by the current federal pay scale for justices. In addition to her Supreme Court salary, Kagan has accumulated wealth through her prior positions in academia, government, and private practice.
Kagan's first opinion as a justice, Ransom v. FIA Card Services, was in a statutory interpretation case. The issue was what income a debtor could shield from creditors in bankruptcy.
In an 8–1 decision, Kagan's opinion for the majority held that the Chapter 13 Bankruptcy statute prevents a debtor from taking an allowance for car-related expenses where the debtor owns the car outright and does not make loan or lease payments.
She reasoned the word "applicable" was key to the statute, and debtors could only take allowances for car-related costs that applied to them.
Career, Business & Investments
Elena Kagan's legal career spans over three decades, with significant achievements in various roles. After graduating from Harvard Law School, she clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall. Kagan has also served in prominent positions such as the Solicitor General and Dean of Harvard Law School. Known for her litigation skills and scholarly contributions, she has authored numerous legal articles and books. Kagan has not publicly engaged in any business ventures or investments outside her professional legal career.
After graduating from Princeton University, Worcester College, Oxford, and Harvard Law School, she clerked for a federal Court of Appeals judge and for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
She began her career as a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, leaving to serve as Associate White House Counsel, and later as a policy adviser under President Bill Clinton. After a nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C.
Circuit, which expired without action, she became a professor at Harvard Law School and was later named its first female dean.
Social Network
Elena Kagan tends to avoid public appearances and social media platforms, choosing to focus on her judicial duties and legal scholarship. However, she occasionally interacts with the legal community at prestigious events and conferences. Her low-key approach to both her personal and professional life contributes to her repute as a thoughtful and dedicated public servant.
Kagan served as Associate White House Counsel for Bill Clinton from 1995 to 1996, when Mikva served as White House Counsel. She worked on such issues affecting the Clinton administration as the Whitewater controversy, the White House travel office controversy, and Clinton v. Jones.
From 1997 to 1999, she worked as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council. Kagan worked on topics like budget appropriations, campaign finance reform, and social welfare issues. Her work is catalogued in the Clinton Library.
Kagan coauthored a 1997 memo urging Clinton to support a ban on late-term abortions: "We recommend that you endorse the Daschle amendment in order to sustain your credibility on HR 1122 and prevent Congress from overriding your veto."
Education
Kagan's educational background is noteworthy. She graduated from Princeton University in 1981 before earning her Juris Doctor (JD) from Harvard Law School in 1986. Her academic excellence has been reflected in her career, making her one of the prominent legal figures in the United States. Kagan's commitment to education continues to influence her judicial philosophy and the decisions she makes on the Supreme Court.
Kagan's childhood friend Margaret Raymond recalled that she was a teenage smoker but not a partier. On Saturday nights, Raymond and Kagan were "more apt to sit on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and talk." Kagan also loved literature and reread Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice every year.
In her 1977 Hunter College High School yearbook, she is pictured in a judge's robe and holding a gavel. Next to the photo is a quotation from former Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter: "Government is itself an art, one of the subtlest of arts."
