Republicans voted unanimously today to confirm John G. Roberts as the nation's 17th chief justice. Democrats divided themselves exactly in half. There are 44 Democrats in the U.S. Senate. Twenty-two of them voted for Roberts. Twenty-two of them voted against him.
Roberts will be sworn in today, and he'll be on the bench in time to hear all the cases on the Supreme Court's fall docket -- including three abortion rights cases that are set for oral argument on Nov. 30. When decisions in those cases come down, there's a chance you'll want to remember how each Democratic senator voted today.
Here's the breakdown:
Democrats who voted in favor of confirmation: Baucus, Bingaman, Byrd, Carper, Conrad, Dodd, Dorgan, Feingold, Johnson, Kohl, Landrieu, Leahy, Levin, Lieberman, Lincoln, Murray, Nelson, Nelson, Pryor, Rockefeller, Salazar and Wyden.
Democrats who voted against confirmation: Akaka, Bayh, Biden, Boxer, Cantwell, Clinton, Corzine, Dayton, Durbin, Feinstein, Harkin, Inouye, Kennedy, Kerry, Lautenberg, Mikulski, Obama, Reed, Reid, Sarbanes, Schumer and Stabenow.
The Senate's sole independent, Jim Jeffords of Vermont, voted in favor of confirmation.
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