Sonia Sotomayor has won Senate approval and become the first Hispanic justice to sit on the US Supreme Court.

The Democratic-led Senate voted largely along party lines by 68 to 31, to approve President Barack Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee. The 55 year-old is also only the third woman to achieve the position. President Obama said her election was a good day for her family but also for the US. “With this historic vote the Senate has affirmed that Judge Sotomayor has the intellect, the temperament, the history, the integrity and the independence of mind to ably serve on our nation’s highest court.” Sotomayor is known to hold many of Obama’s ideas and reflects his determination to move the court to the left after eight years of right-wing leaning judgements under his predecessor, Republican George W. Bush. The Supreme Court is the final arbiter in the US and rules on matters from abortion to civil rights.More about: Barack Obama

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