The Senate voted 58-42 on Jan. 31 to confirm Samuel A. Alito Jr. for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. He was sworn in the same day, thus bringing to a close the 24-year tenure of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Justice O’Connor, who had said she would retire upon the confirmation of her successor, was a key swing vote on such education-related issues that came before the court as affirmative action, sex discrimination, and church-state separation.
