Senate votes to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court

The Republicans killed the filibuster in order to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The Senate on Friday morning voted to confirm President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, after Republicans voted Thursday to end the filibuster. Gorsuch was confirmed in a 54-45 vote, with all Republicans voting in the affirmative alongside three Democrats: Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), and Joe Donnelly (Ind.). Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) was the only senator to miss the confirmation vote.

Gorsuch's addition to the bench restores the Supreme Court to nine members for the first time since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016. Gorsuch is expected to join the judges April 17 for the end of the 2016-2017 session, and could be a deciding vote if the court considers the constitutionality of President Trump's executive order on travel from six majority-Muslim countries.

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Kimberly Alters

Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.