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| Joe Biden |
Joe Biden was sworn in as vice-president for a second term early Sunday, ushering in the formal proceedings on inauguration weekend. Barack Obama was scheduled to take the oath at midday.
Biden chose Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor to administer the oath, the first Latino to do so and the fourth woman. Obama's oath will be administered by Chief Justice John Roberts, who mangled the oath in 2009, requiring the ceremony to be done over.
The two events mark the formal part of a series of events that began on Saturday and will stretch into Tuesday. Under the constitution, the two had to be sworn in on 20 January. But because that date falls on a Sunday, the public event will be held on Monday, when Obama and Biden will take the oath again and Obama will deliver his inauguration speech from outside Congress.
If the election in November had gone the other way, it would have been congressman Paul Ryan taking the oath, with Mitt Romney reading to formally become president at midday.
Biden was sworn in by Sotomayor at his residence in the Naval Observatory, about 15 minutes' drive from the White House. Biden celebrated mass before taking the oath on a bible that has been in his family since the end of the 19th century. He was surrounded by 120 members of his family, friends and staff and members of Congress.
Shortly after Biden's ceremony, he received the congratulations of president, via a tweet.
Between Biden's and Obama's swearing in ceremonies on Sunday, the two visited together Arlington cemetery to lay a wreath. After the swearing-in ceremony on Monday, there will be an inaugural parade from Congress to the White House and in evening, inaugural balls.
