The arrival of E-Books through devices like Kindle and Nook has been slowly placing pressure on the paper book market, as the devices continue to show their usefulness and convenience in a host of different ways. Still, hard copies of books are used in our society every day, from the Bible during mass at church to the court of Law, where witnesses and others are asked to swear upon a copy of the book as a show of their truth in their testimony. However, even these age-old uses could fade away with the rise of electronic books, and history was made on June 2^nd when the first United States ambassador was sworn in on an electronic copy of the U.S. Constitution, stored via Kindle Touch.

Suzi LeVine began her term as the American representative to Switzerland with one foot in the future. As books become more scarce in favor of electronic copies, it is incredibly likely that others will follow in her footsteps.

E-Books like the Kindle and the Nook are heavily praised for their readability, as the devices use what could be described as a “magnetic ink” to arrange words onto a page instead of displaying a screen with text. Not only is this much easier on the eyes, but it also consumes power at an extremely low rate, with some devices capable of lasting up to a month between charges.

Though Suzi LeVine was the first Ambassador to be sworn in through an electronic copy of a book, she is not the first person to do so. Back in February, a group of New Jersey firefighters were sworn in on an iPad version of the Bible, since one could not be found at the station at the time.

In fact, digital oaths may prove more flexible than paper ones, as when John Brennan swore in for his position as director of the CIA on an original draft of the constitution, critics went into an uproar over the fact that it lacked the bill of rights. Such arguments could be quelled by simply downloading the Bill of Rights onto the device – a process that would only take a matter of seconds.