The Senate confirms Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court with a 52-48 vote, solidifying the court’s conservative majority

Barrett was sworn in later Monday night as a Supreme Court justice at a ceremony on the south lawn of the White House. A number of Republican senators were seen in the audience including Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, James Lankford of Oklahoma and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Monday night’s event, which featured visible social distancing measures, stood in sharp contrast to Barrett’s nomination announcement, which has been labeled by public health experts as a coronavirus superspreader event.

Senate Republicans, who hold a majority in the chamber, pushed ahead with one of the quickest nomination proceedings in modern times following the death of the late Justice and liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg last month.

They moved to confirm Barrett over the objections of Democrats who have argued that the process has been a rushed and cynical power grab that threatens to undermine Ginsburg’s legacy.

“By any objective standard, Judge Barrett deserves to be confirmed to the Supreme Court. The American people agree. In just a few minutes, she’ll be on the Supreme Court,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said ahead of the final confirmation vote.

Justice Clarence Thomas will administer the official Constitutional Oath to Barrett at the White House, a senior White House official told CNN.

The confirmation battle has played out in a bitterly-divided Senate, but the outcome has not been in question for much of the fight. With few exceptions, Senate Republicans quickly lined up in support of Barrett after her nomination by President Trump, while Democrats united in opposition.

Two Republican senators crossed party lines to vote with Democrats in opposition to a key procedural vote on Sunday — Collins and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Senate Republicans largely rallied around the nomination, however, praising Barrett as exceedingly qualified to serve on the Supreme Court. Republicans, who have a 53-seat majority, only need 51 votes to confirm a new justice.

Senate Democrats, in contrast, have decried the nomination and the confirmation process.

Democrats have warned that Barrett’s confirmation will put health care protections and the Affordable Care Act in jeopardy. They have argued that the confirmation process has been rushed and accused Republicans of hypocrisy in moving ahead with the nomination after blocking consideration of former President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland in 2016.

“The Republican Party is willing to ignore the pandemic to rush this Supreme Court nomination forward,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech on Sunday.

Democrats, who are in the minority, have been limited in their ability to oppose the nomination, but have protested the process in a variety of ways.

During confirmation hearings, Democrats sought to elicit answers from Barrett on a number of controversial topics the Supreme Court could take up. Barrett repeatedly declined, however, to specify how she might rule on a range of topics, from the Affordable Care Act to Roe v. Wade and the high court’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.

Barrett explained during the hearings that she shared a philosophy with the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, whom she clerked for, but argued she would not be an identical justice if she is confirmed.

“If I’m confirmed, you would not be getting Justice Scalia. You would be getting Justice Barrett,” she said. “And that’s so because originalists don’t always agree.”

This story has been updated with additional developments Monday.