Brett Kavanaugh has taken the oaths of office to become the 114th Supreme Court justice, just a couple of hours after the Senate voted 50-48 to confirm him.
The quick swearing in enables Kavanaugh to begin work immediately in advance of arguments at the court Tuesday in two cases involving prison sentences for repeat offenders.
The court says Kavanaugh took the oath required by the Constitution and another for judges that is part of federal law in the same room where the justices meet for their private conferences.
The 53-year-old justice's wife, children and parents were in attendance.
Chief Justice John Roberts administered the constitutional oath and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy administered the judicial oath. Kavanaugh is replacing Kennedy on the bench and once served as his law clerk.
3:50 p.m. UPDATE
The bitterly polarized U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed Brett Kavanaugh on Saturday to join the Supreme Court, delivering an election-season triumph to President Donald Trump.
The near party-line vote was 50-48, capping a fight that seized the national conversation after claims emerged that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted women three decades ago — which he emphatically denied. Those claims magnified the clash from a routine Supreme Court struggle over judicial ideology into an angrier, more complex jumble of questions about victims' rights, the presumption of innocence and personal attacks on nominees.
Acrimonious to the end, the battle featured a climactic roll call that was interrupted several times by protesters in the Senate Gallery before Capitol Police removed them.
The vote gave Trump his second appointee to the court, tilting it further to the right and pleasing conservative voters who might have revolted against GOP leaders had Kavanaugh's nomination flopped. Democrats hope that the roll call, exactly a month from elections in which House and Senate control are in play, will prompt infuriated women and liberals to stream to the polls to oust Republicans.
In final remarks just before the voting, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said a vote for Kavanaugh was "a vote to end this brief, dark chapter in the Senate's history and turn the page toward a brighter tomorrow."
Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York looked ahead to November, appealing to voters beyond the Senate chamber: "Change must come from where change in America always begins: the ballot box."
Reaction from Arkansas' U.S. Senators
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton and U.S. Sen. John Boozman released these statements after Kavanaugh's confirmation:
“Judge Kavanaugh was a distinguished jurist who respects our Constitution and the judiciary’s vital but limited role in our system of government. I expect Justice Kavanaugh will continue to interpret the Constitution and the laws as written, rather than asserting his own preferences as law. Sadly, because Democrats have long depended on activist judges to impose their unpopular ideas on an unwilling people, the Democrats waged a scorched-earth campaign of character assassination against him. But the Democrats’ crazed, hysterical attempt at left-wing mob rule has failed, and rightfully so. Today is a victory not only for Justice Kavanaugh and his family, but also for the rule of law, due process, fair play, and basic decency.”
— U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton
“I voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice on our nation’s highest court. He is eminently qualified and has earned the respect of the legal community by virtue of his distinguished record on the bench. I am confident Judge Kavanaugh will continue to be the fair and thoughtful jurist he’s demonstrated himself to be over the past 12 years on the D.C. Circuit Court.
“The process by which Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination was considered in the Senate makes clear that this institution has been damaged considerably. This body has a constitutional duty to offer its advice and consent to the President of the United States on nominations to the federal judiciary. When that obligation is so overcome by partisanship and political gamesmanship — as this nomination has been — we must recognize how detrimental that is and commit to hold ourselves to a standard worthy of this institution and to the vision of the founders. Clearly, we have missed the mark in this instance.
“I remain hopeful that the Senate, and our country as a whole, can elevate our political discourse and actions in order to live up to the ideals that define us. One of those ideals is fidelity to the constitution and the rule of law. I look forward to Judge Kavanaugh’s tenure on the Supreme Court where I believe he will champion those principles universally. Our nation will be the better for it.”
— U.S. Sen. John Boozman
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, confronting a tough re-election race next month in a state that Trump won in 2016 by a landslide, was the sole Democrat to vote against Kavanaugh. Every voting Republican backed the 53-year-old conservative judge.
Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, the only Republican to oppose the nominee, voted "present," offsetting the absence of Kavanaugh supporter Steve Daines of Montana, who was attending his daughter's wedding. That rare procedural maneuver left Kavanaugh with the same two-vote margin he'd have had if Murkowski and Daines had both voted.
It was the closest roll call to confirm a justice since 1881, when Stanley Matthews was approved by 24-23, according to Senate records.
Murkowski said Friday that Kavanaugh was "a good man" but his "appearance of impropriety has become unavoidable." Republicans hold only a 51-49 Senate majority and therefore had little support to spare.
The outcome, telegraphed Friday when the final undeclared senators revealed their views, was devoid of the shocks that had come almost daily since Christine Blasey Ford said last month that an inebriated Kavanaugh tried to rape her at a 1982 high school get-together.
Since then, the country watched agape at electric moments. These included the emergence of two other accusers; a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which Ford and Kavanaugh told their diametrically opposed stories, and a truncated FBI investigation that the agency said showed no corroborating evidence and Democrats lambasted as a White House-shackled farce.
All the while, crowds of demonstrators — mostly Kavanaugh opponents — ricocheted around the Capitol's grounds and hallways, raising tensions, chanting slogans, interrupting lawmakers' debates, confronting senators and often getting arrested.
Trump weighed in Saturday morning on behalf of the man he nominated in July. "Big day for America!" he tweeted.
Democrats said Kavanaugh would push the court too far, including possible sympathetic rulings for Trump should the president encounter legal problems from the special counsel's investigations into Russian connections with his 2016 presidential campaign. And they said Kavanaugh's record and fuming testimony at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing showed he lacked the fairness, temperament and even honesty to become a justice.
But the fight was defined by the sexual assault accusations. And it was fought against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement and Trump's unyielding support of his nominee and occasional mocking of Kavanaugh's accusers.
About 100 anti-Kavanaugh protesters climbed the Capitol's East Steps as the vote approached, pumping fists and waving signs. U.S. Capitol Police began arresting some of them. Hundreds of other demonstrators watched from behind barricades. Protesters have roamed Capitol Hill corridors and grounds daily, chanting, "November is coming," ''Vote them out" and "We believe survivors."
On Friday, in the moment that made clear Kavanaugh would prevail, Collins delivered a speech saying that Ford's Judiciary Committee telling of the alleged 1982 assault was "sincere, painful and compelling." But she also said the FBI had found no corroborating evidence from witnesses whose names Ford had provided.
"We must always remember that it is when passions are most inflamed that fairness is most in jeopardy," said Collins, perhaps the chamber's most moderate Republican.
Manchin used an emailed statement to announce his support for Kavanaugh moments after Collins finished talking. Manchin, the only Democrat supporting the nominee, faces a competitive re-election race next month in a state Trump carried in 2016 by 42 percentage points.
Manchin expressed empathy for sexual assault victims. But he said that after factoring in the FBI report, "I have found Judge Kavanaugh to be a qualified jurist who will follow the Constitution."
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who has repeatedly battled with Trump and will retire in January, said he, too, planned to vote for Kavanaugh's confirmation.
Vice President Mike Pence planned to be available in case his tie-breaking vote was needed.
In the procedural vote Friday that handed Republicans their crucial initial victory, senators voted 51-49 to limit debate, defeating Democratic efforts to scuttle the nomination with endless delays.
When Trump nominated Kavanaugh in July, Democrats leapt to oppose him, saying that past statements and opinions showed he'd be a threat to the Roe v. Wade case that assured the right to abortion. They said he also seemed too ready to rule for Trump in a possible federal court case against the president.
Yet Kavanaugh's path to confirmation seemed unfettered until Ford and two other women emerged with sexual misconduct allegations from the 1980s.
Kavanaugh would replace the retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was a swing vote on issues such as abortion, campaign finance and same-sex marriage.
Read Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
2:45 p.m.
A roll call vote is under way in the Senate on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Senators are seated at their desks for the historic vote. If it succeeds, Kavanaugh will soon join the court as an associate justice.
Republicans control the Senate by a 51-49 margin, and the vote seems destined to be nearly party-line. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is the only Democrat expected to vote for Kavanaugh's confirmation. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is opposed, but says she will vote "present" as a courtesy to another Republican who is out of town.
12:30 p.m.
A final vote has been set for Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.
The vote on confirming Kavanaugh as an associate justice will begin at roughly 3:30 p.m., and senators have been advised to be in their seats by the time the historic roll call begins.
Republicans control the Senate by a 51-49 margin, and Saturday's vote seems destined to be nearly party-line. Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is the only Democrat expected to vote for Kavanaugh's confirmation. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is opposed, but says she will vote "present" as a courtesy to another Republican who will be absent for his daughter's wedding.
A few hundred protesters are gathering outside the Capitol before the vote. A group of them climbed the Capitol steps, and some were led away by police.
Noon
A large crowd has gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to protest Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.
Pumping their fists and carrying signs, a few hundred people climbed the east steps of the Capitol for the demonstration. The crowd has been chanting, "November is coming!" and "Vote them out!"
A much larger crowd of protesters is watching the demonstration from behind a barricade. In between, a line of Capitol police officers is standing with plastic handcuffs clipped to their belts.
The Senate is expected to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court on Saturday afternoon.
10:25 a.m.
Deborah Ramirez says the Senate is "looking the other way" when it comes to her accusation that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh exposed himself to her when they were students at Yale.
Ramirez says in a statement released by her lawyers that the FBI refused to speak to witnesses who could corroborate her story. She says senators are "deliberately ignoring" Kavanaugh's behavior.
The Senate is poised on Saturday to confirm Kavanaugh as an associate justice. The vote comes after Kavanaugh faced accusations of sexual misconduct from Ramirez and other women. Kavanaugh has denied the accusations.
The FBI interviewed Ramirez as part of a background check investigation opened by the White House. The Senate Judiciary Committee says the FBI also interviewed two alleged eyewitnesses to the incident named by Ramirez and one of her college friends.
10:15 a.m.
The Senate vote on confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court is certain to be close, even if the outcome is no longer suspenseful. Enough senators have indicated they will support him Saturday to put him over the edge, with a likely margin of two votes. That's barring a last-minute change of mind.
But will the vote match the closest in history?
The closest confirmation votes for a Supreme Court nominee were decided by a single vote. In 1881, Justice Stanley Matthews prevailed in a vote of 24-23. In 1861, nominee Jeremiah Black was defeated by a vote of 26-25.
Among current justices, the confirmation of Clarence Thomas in 1991 was the closest, with a vote of 52-48. Eleven Democrats voted for Thomas, while two Republicans opposed his confirmation.
The vice president can vote in the event of a Senate tie. That's never happened in a Supreme Court confirmation.
7 a.m.
Democrats don't seem to have the votes to keep Brett Kavanaugh from joining the Supreme Court, but that's not stopping them from taking to the Senate floor in a parade of speeches into the early morning against the conservative jurist.
Hours before the expected roll call vote that would elevate the appeals court judge to the nation's highest court, Democrats are making clear their strong opposition.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York says there's one fundamental question for senators when they decide Kavanaugh's fate: "Do we, as a country, value women?"
Gillibrand says women who've experienced sexual trauma are "tired of the same old scenario where the men are believed and the women are not."
Allegations against Kavanaugh arose late in the confirmation process that he sexually abused women decades ago. He's emphatically denied the accusations.
Gillibrand says that after the way Anita Hill was treated by the Senate during the Clarence Thomas hearings in 1991, "we said it would never happen again. But it did."