Justice Stevens to Swear In Biden as VP
It’s pretty much a given that Chief Justice John G. Roberts will swear in Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th president on Jan. 20. But until today, it wasn’t so certain who would do the honors for Vice President Joe Biden.
Turns out, it’ll be U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
So reports Tony Mauro at the Blog of Legal Times. Mauro details a bit of presidential swearing-in history.
The post notes that “It is rare for a vice president to be sworn in by an associate justice appointed by a president of the opposite party, so this choice can be seen as a bipartisan gesture—though Stevens is usually regarded as one of the most liberal justices on the court.”
In 1989, Dan Quayle asked Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to swear him in. And Justice Byron White swore in Vice President Al Gore in 1993. Ruth Bader Ginsburg swore Gore in for the next term.
