President Trump said Brett Kavanaugh will be sworn into the Supreme Court on Saturday, hours after the nominee won a hard-fought confirmation vote in the Senate.
“I applaud and congratulate the U.S. Senate for confirming our GREAT NOMINEE, Judge Brett Kavanaugh, to the United States Supreme Court. Later today, I will sign his Commission of Appointment, and he will be officially sworn in. Very exciting!” Trump tweeted.
Trump signed the document aboard Air Force One en route to Kansas for a campaign rally, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.{mosads}
Chief Justice John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy, the justice Kavanaugh is replacing, will administer the oaths of office to Kavanaugh in a private ceremony at the Supreme Court.
The swearing-in was scheduled “so that he can begin to participate in the work of the court immediately,” the high court said in a statement.
Sanders said Trump called Kavanaugh mid-flight to congratulate him.
Kavanaugh’s confirmation was a major victory for Trump and congressional Republicans, who have sought to move the nation’s courts in a rightward direction.
But it came after a bitter partisan battle that was fueled by sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh that became public just weeks before the Senate was set to vote on his nomination.
The Senate voted 50-48 on Saturday to confirm Kavanaugh, one of the narrowest margins for a Supreme Court confirmation vote in modern history.
The president has now installed two justices on the Supreme Court in less than two years in office, cementing a conservative majority on the nation’s highest court. Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, was confirmed in April 2017.