Brett Kavanaugh sworn in as US Supreme Court justice after bruising political battle
The two-vote margin of victory made it the closest Supreme Court confirmation vote since 1881
Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in Saturday as US Supreme Court justice following the closest such Senate vote in more than a century, marking a major win for President Donald Trump’s drive to move the country’s political institutions to the right.
The Senate voted 50-48 to approve Kavanaugh as protesters rallied across the country against a nominee who has been plagued by allegations of sexual misconduct as a young man and had questions raised over his candour and partisan rhetoric.
Protesters rage in Washington as Trump celebrates Kavanaugh victory
The prolonged nomination battle has roiled American politics and passions -the vote was disrupted on several occasions by angry protests from the gallery – but handed Trump one of the biggest victories of his presidency.
It drew the line under a bruising nomination process defined by harrowing testimony from a woman who says Kavanaugh tried to rape her when they were teenagers - and by his fiery rebuttal.
The two-vote margin of victory made it the closest Supreme Court confirmation vote since 1881 – and by far the most contentious since Clarence Thomas, the conservative justice accused of repeated sexual harassment by a former assistant, Anita Hill, in 1991.
As Chief Justice John Roberts swore in Kavanaugh during a private Supreme Court ceremony, protesters demonstrated loudly outside, at one point rushing the steps of the court and banging on its ornate bronze doors while some sat on a Lady Justice statue.