By a 68-31 vote mostly along party lines, the Senate today confirmed U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Sonya Sotomayor to be the 111th Supreme Court justice.
Sotomayor, who was nominated by President Obama to succeed Justice David Souter who retired at the end of the high court's last term, would be the third woman and first Hispanic to serve on the Supreme Court.
Although the outcome wasn't in much doubt because of the Democrats' control of 60 seats (the chamber has 58 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the Democrats), the confirmation process provided a forum for a vigorous debate about the Democratic and Republican approaches to jurisprudence.
No Democrat voted against Sotomayor and only nine of the chamber's 40 Republicans voted for her.
The only member not voting was Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who is undergoing treatment for brain cancer. He had announced his support for her nomination.
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