Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in as a US Supreme Court justice on Saturday, the court said, after a deeply divided US Senate confirmed him to the court and Republicans dismissed accusations of sexual misconduct against the conservative judge.
The US Senate on Saturday narrowly confirmed President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick Kavanaugh, with a vote by 50 to 48.
The 53-year-old conservative was sworn in as 114th Supreme Court justice by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy in a private ceremony at the Supreme Court, succeeding 82-year-old Justice Kennedy.
Kavanaugh was Trump's second Supreme Court nominee in two years.
US Capitol Police arrest hundreds of protesters after they occupied the center steps of the East Front of the US Capitol to demonstrate against the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh in Washington, DC, US, October 06, 2018. /VCG Photo
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 in 1991.
During the swearing-in 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.
Protesters shout, sing and chant after being arrested by US Capitol Police for demonstrating against the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh in Washington, DC, US, October 06, 2018. /VCG Photo
Trump '100 percent' accuser named wrong person
After the confirmation, Trump tweeted that he will sign the Commission of Appointment later on Saturday so that the judge will be officially sworn in.
"Very exciting!" the president tweeted.
Trump said he is "100 percent" certain that Christine Blasey Ford named the wrong person when she accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault in testimony during his Supreme Court nomination hearings.
"This is one of the reasons I chose him is because there is no one with a squeaky clean past like Brett Kavanaugh. He is an outstanding person and I'm very honored to have chosen him," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One while flying to a campaign rally in Kansas.
"We're very honored that he was able to withstand this horrible, horrible attack by the Democrats."
US President Donald Trump gestures as he watches US Senate voting to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to Supreme Court aboard Air Force One during a flight from Washington, DC to Kansas, US, October 6, 2018. /VCG Photo
Trump's words echoed those of Ford who told the Senate Judiciary Committee that she was "100 percent" certain it was Kavanaugh who sexually assaulted her in the upstairs bedroom of a home in a wealthy Washington suburb in 1982.
The US president disputed predictions that women voters angry about Kavanaugh's nomination could punish his party in the congressional elections on November 6. Hundreds of protesters in and around the US Capitol – many of whom were women – were arrested in the past week.
"Women were outraged at what happened to Brett Kavanaugh, outraged," Trump said. "It was a total misnomer because the women I feel were in many ways stronger than men in his favor."
Trump said the protesters were not genuine, but had been paid by liberal political donors and that his party would prevail in November when one-third of the Senate seats and all House seats will be up for election. "I think the Republicans are going to do incredibly well," Trump said.