Aides expect the President to select his current appointee as Solicitor General of the United States, Elena Kagan, as the newest Supreme Court justice

Top White House aides, speaking to Mike Allen of Politico Magazine, revealed that the President Obama intends to announce (probably on Monday) his pick for the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens on Monday.

The selection appears to be the currently serving Solicitor General Elena Kagan. “The pick isn’t official, but these White House aides will be shocked if it’s otherwise says Allen in his daily “Playbook” column on Friday.

“Kagan’s relative youth (50) is a huge asset for the lifetime post. And President Obama considers her to be a persuasive, fearless advocate who would serve as an intellectual counterweight to Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Scalia, and could lure swing Justice Kennedy into some coalitions,” reports Allen.

Both former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) urged Obama last month to select someone who has not served as a judge. Kagan, who was appointed to her current position in March 2009 after nearly six years as the Dean of Harvard Law school, is the only member of the relatively short list of names considered for the position to have no judicial experience.

Kagan is known for strongly favoring taxpayer funded abortion, and is a critic of the 1991 Supreme Court decision Rust v. Sullivan, which upheld federal regulations prohibiting Title X family planning fund recipients from counseling on or referring for abortion.

Americans United for Life also reports that Kagan once suggested that faith-based groups operating pregnancy care centers should not counsel pregnant youths, for fear that they would include their religious beliefs in the counseling process.

In April, the White House reacted with fury when Ben Domenech, writing in a blog post for CBS News, declared that Kagan would be the “first openly gay justice” on the U.S. Supreme Court. Under increasing pressure from the Obama administration, CBS eventually pulled the post and Domenech apologized for “a Harvard rumor” – but not before posting an addendum stating: “I have to correct my text here to say that Kagan is apparently still closeted – odd, because her female partner is rather well known in Harvard circles.”