WASHINGTON – New Yorker Sonia Sotomayor, the daughter of Puerto Rican parents, was confirmed by the Senate Thursday as the nation’s first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
The Senate voted 68 to 31 to confirm President Obama’s first pick for the high court.
Sotomayor, 55, will be sworn in Saturday by Chief Justice John Roberts for her lifetime appointment, succeeding liberal Justice David Souter, who is retiring.
Roberts will administer the constitutional oath in a private ceremony in the Supreme Court’s conference room with Sotomayor’s family, and then she will then take a judicial oath in public, the court said in a statement.
Sotomayor will become the 111th justice – but only the third female.
Obama said he was "deeply gratified" by the Senate’s historic vote.
But the Bronx-raised federal appeals court judge’s path was not as easy as some had predicted.
She did not match or exceed Roberts’ 78 "ayes," as booster Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) had predicted.
Outnumbered Republicans, however, could do little to stop her confirmation.
"If there are two words that sum up this nomination, it is these: it’s time," Schumer said on the Senate floor just before the vote.
He called Sotomayor’s rise to the highest bench a "true American story and a true New York story," which proved "a girl from a Bronx housing project can rise to the highest court."
Sen. Edward Kennedy (R-Mass.), who is battling brain cancer, missed the historic vote – a procedure presided over by former Saturday Night Live performer turned new senator, Al Franken (D-Minn.).
