President-elect Barack Obama wants the dean at his alma mater, Harvard Law School, to represent the United States before the Supreme Court.

Obama on Monday announced that Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan is his nominee for solicitor general. Kagan worked on the University of Chicago Law School faculty at the same time as Obama served on the faculty during the 1990s and at Harvard has won praise for building consensus and for record fundraising.

Obama announced three other leading Justice Department nominations. Washington lawyers David Ogden and Tom Perrelli were chosen as deputy attorney general and associate attorney general. And Indiana University School of Law professor Dawn Johnsen is his choice to be assistant attorney general for the office of legal counsel.