WASHINGTON (CNS) — Judge Sonia Sotomayor will become the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court, after the Senate confirmed her appointment Aug. 6 by a 68-31 vote. Sotomayor, 55, will be the sixth Catholic on the nine-member court, the most ever at one time. She was scheduled to be sworn in Aug. 8.

A New York native and daughter of Puerto Ricans who struggled to be sure their two children were well-educated, Sotomayor is President Barack Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee. She will take the place of Justice David Souter, who retired at the end of the term in June.

Shortly after the vote, Obama said he was “filled with pride and great confidence” in Sotomayor and that her confirmation made not only a great day for the judge and her family, but “a great day for America.” He said the addition to the court of a justice with Sotomayor’s temperament, intellect and history will help assure that the saying “equal justice under the law” is “not just a phrase over the door of the courtroom, but what happens inside” the court as well.