Justice Stevens Will Swear In Biden as Vice President

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, the oldest and longest-serving justice on the Court, will swear in Joseph Biden as Vice-President on Jan. 20, a source close to the inaugural planners has confirmed to Legal Times. Stevens, 88, was named to the Court in 1975 by President Gerald Ford. It is rare for a vice president to be sworn in by an associate justice appointed by a president of the opposite party, so this choice can be seen as a bipartisan gesture -- though Stevens is usually regarded as one of the most liberal justices on the Court.

By long tradition the president is sworn in by the chief justice, unless an emergency situation arises -- the last one being the hasty swearing-in of Lyndon Johnson by U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Hughes on Air Force One after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. Barack Obama will be the first president sworn in by a chief justice -- John Roberts Jr. -- whose nomination he opposed.

But administering the oath to the vice-president has been less governed by tradition. The Senate President pro tempore, the House speaker, the chief justice or even the veep's predecessor has usually performed the ritual over the years. House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill Jr. did the honors for Walter Mondale in 1977. Associate Justice Potter Stewart swore in George H.W. Bush -- the two were close friends -- as vice president in 1981 and 1985. 

After the 1988 election Dan Quayle asked Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female justice, to swear him in, and she agreed. Justice Byron White swore in Vice President Al Gore in 1993, and then in 1997 White’s successor Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second female justice, administered the oath to Gore. In 2001 the old tradition returned when then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist swore in both George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Four years later House Speaker Denny Hastert swore in Cheney.