Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed on a 68-31 vote by the Senate today, making her the nation's 111th Supreme Court justice, the third woman, and the first of Hispanic descent to serve on the Court:
"In a sign of the increasing partisan tension to battles over Supreme
Court nominations, the 31 Republican votes against Sotomayor far
outnumbered the GOP opposition to the Clinton administration's Supreme
Court justices in the early 1990s, Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer. But it was a similar to the level of Democratic opposition to George
W. Bush's nominees earlier this decade: Chief Justice John G. Roberts
Jr. received 22 'no' votes from Democrats in 2005, while Associate
Justice Samuel Alito received more than 40 'no' votes from Democrats in
2006."
Nine Republicans voted for Sotomayor. They are Lamar Alexander (TN), Kit Bond (MO), Susan Collins (ME), Lindsey Graham (SC), Judd Gregg (NH), Richard Lugar (IN), Mel Martinez (FL), Olympia Snowe (ME) and George Voinovich (OH).
Lambda Legal applauded the confirmation. See its statement here.
Watch the vote tally and announcement, AFTER THE JUMP...
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