WASHINGTON--After months of vetting, four days of public questioning, and weeks of contemplation, the Senate voted 68-31 to make Sonia Sotomayor an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. 

The vote fell mostly along party lines. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who actively questioned the judge during her confirmation hearings, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., last year's Republican presidential nominee, were among those GOP senators who voted against Sotomayor’s nomination.

Prior to the vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., spoke of Sotomayor’s merits, repeating the oft-told accomplishments of the nominee but also took a moment to mention Justice David Souter, whose seat Sotomayor will be taking. “I will miss him” Reid said.

Sotomayor becomes the third woman to serve on the high court and the first of Hispanic heritage. She will be sworn in Saturday.

Although heralded by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee as a confirmation process in which both sides exhibited exemplary behavior, the nomination process was not without its partisan accusations.

As late as yesterday afternoon, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., assailed the opposition’s refusal to endorse Sotomayor, saying Republicans sought to “impose right-wing orthodoxy on the Supreme Court.”

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., said “[Sotomayor] is not going to turn the clock back like some activist conservative judges,” an illusion to criticism that characterized Sotomayor as being an activist judge during the subcommittee hearings last month.

Gun control, abortion, and property rights were among the topics that dominated the weeks of debate, but, so, too were softer issues that are difficult to quantify, such as whether a judge should employ an “empathy” standard and to what extent, if any, a person’s background should or does play in determining judicial decisions.

Sotomayor’s speeches were a flashpoint throughout the process. Several quotes – the “Wise Latina woman” and a statement that a judge cannot be truly impartial – were hashed, rehashed, and then dissected by the members of the committee, and then the Senate as a whole.

The then-nominee held her ground during the process saying that her comments were taken out of context and that she would judge as a judge should: based on the law and the facts presented in a given case, not on her personal experience or biases.

Diversity was also a subject of much discussion. Senators from both parties embraced, on a variety of fronts, using words such as “historic” to describe the nomination of the first Latina judge to the Supreme Court. And they also applauded the attempt to close the gender gap on the high court, saying Sotomayor deserved the opportunity to be only the third woman to serve as a justice.

But George Law Garcia of the National Puerto Rican Coalition dismissed diversity in this context as revolving around Sotomayor’s ethic background. “The essence of diversity is not about race. It’s about representation of different circumstances and experiences” he said while attending a pro-Sotomayor rally near the Capitol on Wednesday.

However historic Sotomayor’s moment, the impact may just be beginning. New Yorker Brunilda Vega, who also attended Wednesday’s rally said she’s looking forward to the next round of Congressional elections. “I also want a ‘Wise Latina woman’ to run against McCain” she said.

Sotomayor will begin her first full session on the high court Oct. 5.