By Melanie Linn Gutowski

As would be expected with any Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan has received some tough criticism from both politicians and the media after President Obama nominated her to the Supreme Court May 10.

But, unlike many other individuals nominated to prominent positions by the president, Kagan is under additional scrutiny because of her personal life, or supposed lack thereof.

Kagan, 50, is unmarried and has no children. Despite her impressive credentials, - she was the first woman to be dean of Harvard Law School and has served as Solicitor General since 2009 - she has recently been criticized in the press for "having sacrificed a home and personal life in her quest for a brilliant legal career."

While reliable information on Kagan's personal life remains scarce, we at Savvy Auntie would consider her to be a PANK: Professional Aunt, No Kids. Whether she's a real-life auntie or an ABC (Auntie-by-Choice), it is certain that Kagan does not lack maternal instincts.

Kagan has also been praised for the very qualities she is also accused of lacking.  The New York Times reported on Kagan's initial work in unifying faculty during her tenure as dean of Harvard Law School:

"Ms. Kagan undertook a top-to-bottom transformation. Often, her consensus-building efforts revolved around meals — a hint, friends say, of her nurturing, Jewish-mother side. With the faculty unable to come to terms over how to update the first-year curriculum, Ms. Kagan opened her home."

It seems that Kagan is the victim of a trope of modern womanhood, that women who don't strive to achieve motherhood along with professional success are somehow lacking in empathy, knowledge or even common sense. It's a stereotype with which many PANKs are familiar.

Deborah Rhode, director of the Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School, told a New York Times reporter that "such stereotypes are unfair but common given society’s double standard when it comes to single women and work."

“I didn’t think you needed to actually be a mother to appreciate the challenges facing working mothers,” Rhode went on to say. “I do think it is a step back if we start to penalize women for not making the conventional choice...We want a world where people can make a variety of choices and be happy.”

Other parenting-centric outlets have criticized President Obama's choice of Kagan, calling colleague Diane Wood a better choice because of her so-called "mom-spertise."

Despite the criticism, Kagan has professed a love of the law that seems to speak to equality for all in our society, parents or not. Speaking after the president's announcement of her nomination, she told the assembled crowd that she loved the law "...because it keeps us safe; because it protects our most fundamental rights and freedoms; and because it is the foundation of our democracy.”

Melanie Linn Gutowski, Savvy Auntie's Associate Editor, is a proud Godmother and ABC.

Photo: Courtesy Harvard University
Published: May 16, 2010