Obama's Inauguration Is Today

Washington is still putting the finishing touches on tomorrow's every-four-years inauguration party, but it'll be a day late: President Obama will quietly be sworn in for a second term today, due to a Constitutional quirk that mandates that the commander in chief be sworn in at noon on January 20. Because that fell on a Sunday, when inaugurations aren't held, Obama will take the oath at the White House today and tomorrow's ceremony is essentially a re-enactment, reports the AP.

Chief Justice John Roberts—who famously flubbed the oath four years ago—will swear the president in both times, notes Politico in a look at the at-times tempestuous relationship between the two men. Joe Biden was also sworn in this morning in a small ceremony at the Naval Observatory, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor administering the oath. Roll Call notes that he used a 5-inch-thick Bible that had been in his family since 1893; Sotomayor is the first Hispanic justice to swear in a president or vice president, reports the Washington Post. "Above all, I’m happy for the chance to be sworn in by a friend—and someone I know will continue to do great things," said Biden. (More President Obama stories.)