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Take Your Seat, Sonia Sotomayor

September 08, 2009 9:32 PM

The ceremony lasted only five minutes, but there was enough pomp and tradition to fill a day, as Sonia Sotomayor took her seat on the Supreme Court bench this afternoon for the first time.

The courtroom was packed with some very important people: President Obama, Vice President Biden, prominent senators, former Justice Department and White House officials, federal judges and retired Justice David Souter.

But for Sotomayor, the most important people, her family and friends, sat in the front row. And momentous feel of the occasion, the hushed formality in that majestic courtroom, had some of them dabbing their eyes.

Sotomayor smiled broadly as she walked in the courtroom, wearing her new robe (a gift from her former law clerks). She also wore a rather elaborate white judicial collar, a gift from Justice Ginsburg. If you saw the terrific C-SPAN interviews with Justices O’Connor and Ginsburg, you’d realize that was a meaningful gift, since Ginsburg and O’Connor initially were stymied by how to retrofit those black robes, designed for tie-wearing men, for women.

Today’s investiture was the formal ceremony—Sotomayor was sworn in last month in a private ceremony at the Court so she could get right to work. As her new colleagues stood at their seats on the bench, Chief Justice Roberts administered the judicial oath.

And then, Sotomayor walked down to the far right of the bench and took her seat, right next to Justice Breyer. The Chief Justice had kind words of welcome: “We wish for you a long and happy career in our common calling.”

And with that, the justices rose and exited the courtroom. They’ll be back tomorrow for arguments in a major campaign finance reform case—when Sotomayor will get her first chance to speak from her new seat.

September 8, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

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