Washington, Aug 9 (Xinhua) Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in Saturday as US Supreme Court justice, becoming the first Hispanic justice at the country's apex court.

The 55-year-old appeal court judge from New York was sworn in at a televised ceremony held at the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts administered the ceremony.

'I, Sonia Sotomayor, do solemnly swear that I will administer justice without respect for persons, and do equal rights to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all of the duties incumbent upon me as associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, under the constitution and laws of the United States, so help me God,' Sotomayor repeated the oath of office after Roberts.

The ceremony was the first one of its kind to be televised in the country's history.

Sotomayor was born to Puerto Rican parents in Bronx in New York. After her father died when she was only nine, her mother, a nurse, raised her two children alone on a modest salary.