John Roberts Confirmed by the Senate
The Senate confirmed John Glover Roberts Jr. as chief justice of the United States, replacing the late William H. Rehnquist, the mentor for whom he clerked.
He is to take the oath of office later today at the White House and will participate on Monday — the first Monday in October — in a Supreme Court induction ceremony as the justices begin their new term
The final vote was 78-22. Some interesting historical trivia:
Roberts, 50, will be the youngest person in the exalted position of chief justice since John Marshall, an appointee of President John Adams who took office in 1801 at the age of 46.
Of course, now that this is over, the war begins:
The next step will be the nomination of an associate justice, perhaps within the next day or two, to replace the retiring Sandra Day O’Connor. Since that appointee will replace a centrist justice rather than a conservative, many observers expect a sharper battle.
Update: Here’s a list of the Democrats that voted against the nomination. Not a surprise among them:
Evan Bayh of Indiana
Joseph Biden of Delaware
Barbara Boxer of California
Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York
Jon Corzine of New Jersey
Mark Dayton of Minnesota
Dick Durbin of Illinois
Dianne Feinstein of California
Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts
John Kerry of Massachusetts
Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey
Barbara Mikulski of Maryland
Barack Obama of Illinois
Harry Reid of Nevada
Charles Schumer of New York
Debbie Stabenow of Michigan
Jack Reed of Rhode Island
Tom Harkin of Iowa
Daniel Inouye of Hawaii
Paul Sarbanes of Maryland
Maria Cantwell of Washington
Daniel Akaka of Hawaii
H/T: Michelle Malkin
Update # 2: Ann Althouse has this to say about those 22 Senators.
As to those 22 Democrats who voted no, they have openly embraced an ideological view of the Court from which they can never credibly step back. For them, appointing Supreme Court Justices is a processes of trying to lock outcomes in place, and we shouldn’t believe them if in the future they try to say otherwise.
And then she adds:
I hope no one on that list is running for President
Are you listening Hillary ?
