Washington ? Elena Kagan told the Senate Judiciary Committee at the opening of her confirmation hearings Monday that she would bring to the Supreme Court a “modest” approach, showing great deference to the other, elected branches of government.

The day was dominated as much by a broad ideological clash between Democrats and Republicans — over judicial restraint and the proper reach of government — as by the woman who would become the 112th justice of the nation’s highest court.

Speaking in slow and deliberate tones, Kagan told the committee that her experience as a legislative aide, a White House adviser and now solicitor general had underscored for her the importance of a judicial branch that knows its bounds.