The U.S. Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court in a 68 to 31 vote, meaning that a few Republicans supported President Barack Obama’s first nominee to the court.
As the 111th justice she is the third woman appointed and the first hispanic to ever sit on the panel.
The Senate’s lone Hispanic Democrat and head of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, hailed the nominee minutes befor the vote with this speech. “History awaits, and so does an anxious Hispanic community in this country,” he said. “When she places her hand on the Bible and takes the oath of office, the new portrait of the justices of the Supreme Court will clearly reflect who we are as a nation, what we stand for as a fair, just and hopeful people.”
