The Republican-led Senate on Friday gave Donald Trump the biggest triumph of his young presidency, confirming his Supreme Court nominee over stout Democratic opposition and restoring a conservative majority on the highest US judicial body.
The Senate, which last year refused to consider Democratic former president Barack Obama’s nominee to the court, voted 54-45 to approve Republican Trump’s pick, Colorado-based federal appeals court Judge Neil Gorsuch, to the lifetime job.
Three Democrats joined the Republicans in voting for Gorsuch, Reuters reported.
Gorsuch’s confirmation ends the longest Supreme Court vacancy since 1862 during the American Civil War, with the court down a justice for almost 14 months.
Illustrating the importance of the moment, Vice President Mike Pence served as the Senate’s presiding officer during the vote to confirm Gorsuch, who also worked in Republican former president George W. Bush’s Justice Department and is the son of the first woman to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
Republicans, possessing a 52-48 Senate majority, on Thursday overcame a ferocious Democratic effort to block a confirmation vote, resorting to a rule change known as the “nuclear option”.
The Senate’s approval of Gorsuch reinstates the nine-seat court’s 5-4 conservative majority, fulfilling an important Trump campaign promise.
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