Today marks the the end of an era in Supreme Court history. Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman nominated and confirmed to the US Supreme Court. Her role on the Court will be debated by future generations and her mark on jurisprudence was quite considerable. Ruling on cases as varied as abortion to gun control, O'Connor was widely considered the swing vote on the court.
She retired today as her successor Samuel Alito was confirmed as the 110th Supreme Court justice in United States history by a 58 to 42* margin. ScotusBlog also has some trivia surrounding confirmations and Alito's seat on the Court.
What cannot be denied is that each one of the nine justices sitting on the Supreme Court hold immense power in every utterance and decision written and hope that Alito recognizes that is not only a great responsibility and burden, but a tremendous opportunity to make sure that this nation - both its citizens and its government - live up to the ideals set forth in the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
UPDATE 2/1/06:
Anonymous emailer notes that the vote was 58-42, and I fixed the typo above.
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