国际英语新闻：Kagan sworn in as Supreme Court Justice

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Elena Kagan was sworn in on Saturday afternoon as the 112th Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming only the fourth female justice in the court's history.

Kagan was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts in the Supreme Court. Pledging to uphold the law faithfully and impartially, she took the oath prescribed by the Constitution in front of a small number of family, friends and colleagues.

Kagan was confirmed to the lifetime job on Thursday by the U.S. Senate with a 63 to 37 vote, becoming President Barack Obama's second Supreme Court nominee to join the court. The first one was Sonia Sotomayor, who is also a woman, and the first ever Hispanic Supreme Court Justice.

With Kagan, there are now three women sitting on the court. The third one is Ruth Ginsburg. Kagan will replace retired Justice John Paul Stevens in the high court's fall session. She most recently served as Solicitor General for the administration.

Kagan will not be formally installed as a justice until Oct. 1 in a courtroom ceremony at the start of the court's new term. She isn't expected to alter the ideological balance of the court, where Stevens was considered one of the liberals.

Obama hailed Kagan's Senate approval as historic, saying on Friday that "for the first time in history, there will be three women serving on our nation's highest court."