Senate approves Trump's conservative Supreme Court pick

The Republican-led Senate gave Donald Trump the biggest triumph of his young presidency on Friday, confirming his Supreme Court nominee over stout Democratic opposition and restoring a conservative majority on the highest U.S. judicial body.

The U.S. Senate, which last year refused to consider former president Barack Obama's nominee to the court, voted to approve Colorado-based federal appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch to the lifetime job. He will be sworn in on Monday.

Gorsuch's confirmation ends the longest Supreme Court vacancy since 1862 during the American Civil War, with the court down a justice for almost 14 months since long-serving conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died on Feb. 13, 2016.

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"Judge Gorsuch's confirmation process was one of the mosttransparent and accessible in history, and his judicialtemperament, exceptional intellect, unparalleled integrity andrecord of independence makes him the perfect choice to serve onthe nation's highest court," Trump said in a statement.

"He's going to make an incredible addition to the court," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor.

McConnell said Gorsuch who also worked in the Justice Department under former Republican president George W. Bush and is the son of the first woman to head the Environmental Protection Agency has "sterling credentials, an excellent record and an ideal judicial temperament."

The Republicans, possessing a 52-48 Senate majority, on Thursday overcame a ferocious Democratic effort to block a confirmation vote by resorting to a rule change known as the "nuclear option."

"Today, for the first time in history, the theft of aSupreme Court seat has been completed, profoundly damaging the
integrity of the court," said Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley,referring to Republicans casting aside Obama's nominee MerrickGarland, who would have tilted the court to the left for thefirst time in decades.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, who led the opposition to Gorsuch, said he hopes the judge would heed concerns that the court is "increasingly drifting toward becoming a more pro-corporate court that favours employers, corporations and special interests over working America."

Conservative majority reinstated

The Senate's approval of Gorsuch, 49, reinstates the nine-seat court's 5-4 conservative majority, fulfilling an important campaign promise made by the Republican president.

Gorsuch was the youngest Supreme Court nominee since Republican President George H.W. Bush in 1991 picked Clarence Thomas, who was 43 at the time. Gorsuch could be expected to serve for decades, while Trump could make further appointments to the high court to make it even more solidly conservative. Three of the eight justices are 78 or older.

Gorsuch's confirmation gave a boost to Trump, showing he can get important agenda items through a Congress controlled by his fellow Republicans after the House of Representatives last month failed to pass health-care overhaul legislation. Trump is planning major tax cut legislation as well.

Extraordinary steps taken

It was not easy. Senate Republicans resorted to extraordinary steps to overcome Democratic opposition to Gorsuch, including changing long-standing Senate rules to prohibit the use of a procedural blockade called a filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. The rule change was dubbed the "nuclear option" because it was considered an extreme break from Senate tradition.

Gorsuch joins fellow conservatives Thomas, John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy on a court that also includes liberal justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Had the Senate confirmed Obama's nominee Merrick Garland, the court would have tilted to the left for the first time in decades.

Trump has recorded accomplishments since taking office on Jan. 20, including a variety of unilateral executive actions such as moving to undo Obama's climate change regulations.

But Trump has run into trouble with some other major initiatives. Courts blocked his executive action to stop people from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. His administration also has faced questions about any role the president's associates may have played in alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help Trump.

Conservative shift for court

The rule change could make it easier for Trump to win confirmation of Supreme Court nominees as long as Republicans control the Senate, with Democrats left powerless to resist, even if he gets a chance to replace the court's senior liberal, 84-year-old Ginsburg, or the court's swing vote, 80-year-old Kennedy, with more conservative replacements.

Democrats accusedGorsuchof being so conservative as to be outside the judicial mainstream, favouring corporate interests over ordinary Americans in legal opinions, and displaying insufficient independence from Trump.

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A conservative-majority court is more likely to support gun rights, abortion regulations, an expansive view of religious liberty and Republican-backed voting restrictions, while opposing curbs on political spending. The court also is likely to tackle transgender rights and union funding in coming years.

Gorsuch will be sworn in at two differentceremonies, one at the court and one at the White House, on Monday. He can
then prepare for the court's next round of oral arguments,starting on April 17. The court's current term ends in June.

Gorsuch will participate in the justices' private April 13conference to consider taking new cases. There are appealspending on expanding gun rights to include carrying concealedfirearms in public, state voting restrictions that critics sayare aimed at reducing minority turnout, and allowing businessowners to object on religious grounds to providing gay couplescertain services.