Now she can be addressed as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The 55-year-old native of the Bronx, the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court, was sworn in at noon Saturday before a nationwide television audience by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., with her mother Celina holding the Bible. As soon as Sotomayor repeated the final phrase of her judicial oath, “so help me God,” Roberts said, “Congratulations and welcome to the Court.” Sotomayor embraced her proud mother and her brother Juan.
It was a brief ceremony in the Court’s east conference room, with portraits of the early chief justices looming above, and about 60 friends and family in the audience. She entered with Roberts after taking the constitutional oath in private at the justices’ conference room. Roberts explained to the crowd that Sotomayor’s formal investiture would take place Sept. 8, but she was being sworn in now “so she can begin work as an associate justice without delay.”
