Cote, 56, is the first woman ever appointed directly to the country's top court from the bar, but follows in the footsteps of a number of distinguished former jurists, including John Sopinka and Ian Binnie.
Her appointment will bring the complement of women on the top court to four of nine justices. It also ends more than a year of unprecedented, roiling controversy over the Supreme Court's composition, which began when Harper's proposed choice of Justice Marc Nadon for a vacant Quebec seat was challenged and ultimately rejected on constitutional grounds by the Supreme Court itself last March.