Updated at 11:31 p.m. ET
A sharply divided Senate — reflecting a deeply divided nation — voted almost entirely along party lines Saturday afternoon to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A little more than two hours later, Kavanaugh was sworn in during a private ceremony as protesters stood on the court's steps.
Kavanaugh becomes the nation's 114th Supreme Court justice and President Trump's second appointment to the court, creating a conservative majority on the nation's highest court for years to come.
The Senate vote was 50-48.Only one Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, joined Republicans in backing Kavanaugh. One Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted "present" although she said she opposed the nomination. One GOP senator was absent during the vote because of his daughter's wedding thousands of miles from Washington, D.C.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he flew to Kansas for a political rally, Trump said he was "very, very, very happy" about the vote and said Kavanaugh will be "a brilliant Supreme Court justice for many years."
After the vote, the president called Kavanaugh to congratulate him, the White House said in a statement. Trump also spoke with Vice President Pence, Sen. Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Kavanaugh was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy Saturday evening. Roberts administered the constitutional oath and Kennedy the judicial oath. "Both oaths will be administered so that [Kavanaugh] can begin to participate in the work of the Court immediately," the court said in a statement prior to the swearing in. A formal investiture ceremony will take place at a later date, the Supreme Court also said.
And Trump told Kansas rallygoers that he will hold a ceremonial swearing-in for Kavanaugh at the White House Monday evening.
Senators sat at their desks during Saturday's roll call, rising when it was their turn to vote. The session was presided over by Pence. In the debate preceding the vote, senators sounded as though they were describing two different men. McConnell called Kavanaugh "among the very best our nation has to offer." Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the 53-year-old Kavanaugh a victim of "an ugly left-wing smear campaign" and charged Democrats with character assassination.
Kavanaugh had been accused by three women of sexual misconduct while he was in high school and college more than 30 years ago — charges he angrily denied.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called Kavanaugh's confirmation "a low moment for the Senate, the court, and the country" and said of Kavanaugh, "He doesn't belong on the nation's highest bench."
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who was first elected in the "Year of the Woman" in 1992 after the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas, said that in confirming Kavanaugh the Senate would be telling young girls and women that "your voices just don't matter."
On Air Force One, Trump told reporters his speech in Mississippi last week, in which he was widely seen to be mocking Christine Blasey Ford, "had such a great impact. I think it was a very important thing." Ford had accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in 1982 when they both were in high school.
Trump also said women, far from being outraged at Kavanaugh, "were outraged at what happened to Brett Kavanaugh, outraged."
Asked about the #MeToo movement and her husband's recent comments about its potential impact on men, first lady Melania Trump weighed in on Kavanaugh's controversial nomination before Saturday's vote. "I would say if we're talking about the Supreme Court and Judge Kavanaugh, I think he's highly qualified for the Supreme Court," Mrs. Trump said while speaking to reporters in Egypt during a solo international trip to Africa. "I'm glad that Dr. Ford was heard; I'm glad that Judge Kavanaugh was heard. FBI investigation was done, is completed and Senate voted."
But when asked whether she believed Ford, the first lady would not answer directly. "I will move on that and I think that all the victims, they need — we need to help all the victims no matter what kind of abuse they had, but I am against any kind of abuse or violence," the first lady said.
In the hours before the vote, police arrested demonstrators who had broken through barriers around the Capitol and tried to climb the building's steps. Protesters were also heard shouting from the Senate gallery during the roll call.
A total of 164 people were arrested according to U.S. Capitol Police.
Speaking after the vote, McConnell said the protests against Kavanaugh over the past several weeks have "turned our base on fire." Citing the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee and "the virtual mob that assaulted us in the course of this process," McConnell said "they've managed to deliver the only thing that we had not been able to figure out how to do, which was to get our folks fired up."
A recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll showed in fact that the Republicans have narrowed the enthusiasm gap with Democrats in the past few weeks.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Trump said Murkowski will face political consequences for opposing Kavanaugh. "I think she will never recover from this," Trump said. "I think the people from Alaska will never forgive her for what she did."
Murkowski lost a primary battle in 2010 but was re-elected as a write-in candidate. She next faces voters in 2022.
On Friday, after the nomination cleared a key procedural hurdle with a 51-49 vote, two previously undecided senators, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced they would support Kavanaugh. That support all but assured Republicans of the votes they needed to push the nomination across the finish line.
In a much anticipated speech on the Senate floor Friday afternoon, Collins said that she believed that Ford was a survivor of sexual assault. Still, Collins said, the allegations "fail to meet the 'more likely than not' standard," and "I do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent Judge Kavanaugh from serving on the court."
And in a statement issued soon after Collins spoke, Manchin explained he was supporting Kavanaugh notwithstanding the "serious accusations" leveled against the judge and lingering questions about Kavanaugh's temperament.
"I have reservations about this vote given the serious accusations against Judge Kavanaugh and the temperament he displayed in the hearing," Manchin said. "And my heart goes out to anyone who has experienced any type of sexual assault in their life. However, based on all of the information I have available to me, including the recently completed FBI report, I have found Judge Kavanaugh to be a qualified jurist who will follow the Constitution and determine cases based on the legal findings before him. I do hope that Judge Kavanaugh will not allow the partisan nature this process took to follow him onto the court."
Speaking to NPR on Friday, a lawyer for Ford said the California professor's goal was never to derail the nomination. "Dr. Ford's goal here was never to impact the process to derail a nomination," attorney Lisa Banks said on All Things Considered. "What she was trying to do was what she thought was the right thing to do as a citizen, which is to provide the information to the U.S. Senate so they could make the most informed decision possible. Her goal wasn't to derail this nomination; it was to inform the nomination and she's done that."
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