The US Senate confirmed Neil M Gorsuch to serve on the US Supreme Court, capping more than a year of bitter partisan bickering over the ideological balance of the nation’s highest court.
Senators voted to confirm Gorsuch, 49, a Denver-based judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, who will become the 113th person to serve on the Supreme Court.
Gorsuch is expected to be sworn-in in the coming days, allowing him to join the high court for the final weeks of its term, which ends in June. It’s likely he will want to be sworn-in quickly, even if a ceremonial event is held later, so that he can get to work. The court is scheduled to meet Thursday for a private session to decide whether to accept or reject a long list of cases that would be heard next term. And the last round of oral arguments for this term is scheduled to begin in just 10 days, on April 17.
Gorsuch’s confirmation is a marquee accomplishment for President Trump and his young administration, capping a momentous week for the White House that included the first military airstrikes authorised by the president. And the vote is a big legislative win for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), who refused to even consider President Barack Obama’s nominee after Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, leaving the seat open for Trump to fill. On the court, Gorsuch will be pressed into immediate service and could hold the deciding vote on several important issues. In the coming weeks, the court is likely to decide whether to intervene in a lower court’s decision that voting-law changes in North Carolina were passed by the Republican-controlled legislature in order to diminish the influence of minority voters.#BREAKING: Neil Gorsuch has enough votes in Senate for confirmation as Supreme Court justice. Vote is still ongoing; theft is complete. pic.twitter.com/UA3jplg7eb
— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) April 7, 2017
The Senate just confirmed Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. This is an enormous win for all Americans. pic.twitter.com/PuF5VxRqoW— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) April 7, 2017
Gorsuch’s confirmation was all-but-assured on Thursday, when Republicans cleared the way for him by overcoming a historic Democratic blockade and changing the rules of the Senate.
The long-anticipated rules change now means that all presidential nominees for executive branch positions and the federal courts need only a simple majority vote to be confirmed by senators.
The GOP decision to ram through the rules change is also likely to further divide an increasingly partisan Senate. Several senators openly fretted that eliminating the minority party’s right to block high court nominees could lead to the end of filibusters on legislation, effectively transforming the Senate’s traditional role in the legislative process as the slower, more deliberative chamber.
