Sotomayor Confirmed
Freshly confirmed Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor, pictured here being greeted by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, center, and the committee's ranking Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, right, on July 16, 2009. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Whether the justice would be confirmed was never really in much doubt; the biggest piece of news out of the vote was maybe that ailing Sen. Robert Byrd managed to show up to cast his vote. But the inevitability of the decision should in no way downplay the historic significance of Sotomayor joining the highest court in the land.
For you lawyer types out there, how fast does the scramble to get one of the new justice's clerkships start?