The US Senate has voted to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, after weeks of rancorous debate.
The Senate backed Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination by 50 votes to 48.
Mr Kavanaugh had been embroiled in a bitter battle to stave off allegations of sexual assault.
But after an 11th-hour investigation by the FBI into the allegations, enough wavering senators decided to back the nomination.
Ahead of the vote, hundreds of people protesting against Mr Kavanaugh’s nomination demonstrated at the US Capitol in Washington.
During the vote, other protesters shouted “shame” from the public gallery and Vice-President Mike Pence had to call for order to be restored.
Mr Kavanaugh’s appointment is for life and he will strengthen conservative control of the nine-judge court, which has the final say on US law.
Mr Trump sent out a tweet of congratulations:
So what were the numbers in the Senate?
The upper house is split 51-49 in favour of the Republicans and the vote was largely along party lines. Mr Kavanaugh actually only needed a 50-50 vote, as that would have forced a tie-breaker in his favour from Mr Pence.
In the end, there was a two-vote margin.
The only party dissenters were Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who had intended to vote no, and Democrat Joe Manchin, who voted yes.
That should have meant a 51-49 tally, but the absence of Republican Steve Daines, a yes voter who was at his daughter’s wedding, altered the final figures.
Ms Murkowski opted instead to simply mark herself as “present”, leaving the final vote 50-48.
Source: BBC
