The Newest Justice Formally Takes Her Seat [Sotomayor seated in Chief Justice John Marshall's chair]

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Justice Sonia Sotomayor officially took her seat as the Supreme Court's 111th member Tuesday in a tradition-filled ceremony witnessed by President Obama, Vice President Biden, and scores of lawmakers, judges, family members and friends.

Sotomayor took her judicial oath and joined the court on Aug. 8, soon after her Senate confirmation. But Tuesday's investiture ceremony was the first time she joined her eight colleagues in the court's historic chambers, with its marble columns and burgundy draperies.

She sat in the early-19th-century black leather chair once used by Chief Justice John Marshall, the court leader who established the court's authority as the final say on constitutional matters. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. administered the judicial oath, and she swore to "do equal right to the poor and to the rich" with her hand on a Bible signed by every justice who has served in the past 100 years.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/08/AR2009090802411.html


Photos

This image released by the Supreme Court of the United States shows a informal group photograph of the Supreme Court with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, taken in the Justices' Conference Room prior to Justice Sonia Sotomayor's formal Investiture Ceremony Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009, in Washington. From left to right: Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Anthony Kennedy, Justice John Paul Stevens, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., President Barack Obama, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Vice President Joseph Biden, Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Stephen G. Breyer, and retired Justice David H. Souter.
(AP Photo/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States, Steve Petteway)


In this image released by the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, left, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor pose for a photo in the Justices' Conference Room prior to Justice Sotomayor's formal Investiture Ceremony Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States, Steve Petteway)


This undated image released by the Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009 shows Justice Sonia Sotomayor is seen in her official portrait.
(AP Photo/Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States, Steve Petteway)

High res photos:
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/publicinfo/press/investiture/investiture_sotomayor.html

Transcript:
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/sotomayor-ceremony-transcript.pdf