Oyez! Oyez! Court set for Sotomayor ceremony

— -- Tuesday at 2 p.m., the Supreme Court will hold an investiture for new justice Sonia Sotomayor. USA TODAY previews the ceremony.

Q: What is the investiture?

A:It is the ceremonial commissioning of a new justice. Sotomayor will place her left hand on a Bible and raise her right hand to take the judicial oath of office. As has become routine among new justices, Sotomayor already was sworn in at a private ceremony at the court — on Aug. 8 — so that she could begin working.

Q: Where will the investiture be?

A:In the well of the justices' ornate, white-marble, crimson-draped courtroom, in front of the bench.

Q: How will the event begin?

A:The marshal of the Supreme Court, Pamela Talkin, will rap her gavel on her desk and introduce the justices with the familiar cry of: "Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business before the honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the court is now sitting. God save the United States and this honorable court." The other eight justices will take their seats along the mahogany bench.

Q: Where will Sotomayor be seated?

A:When the ceremony begins, she will be escorted to a black leather chair that was used by Chief Justice John Marshall, who served from 1801 to 1835 and established the court's final authority on constitutional questions. This chair has been brought out for the investiture of every member of the court since Lewis Powell and William Rehnquist took their judicial oaths in January 1972.

Q: Who administers the oath?

A:The chief justice of the United States, John Roberts.

Q: What will Sotomayor say?

A:"I, Sonia Sotomayor, do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God."