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Amy Coney Barrett has been confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice after Republicans dominated Democratic opposition 52-48 in the United States Senate.
Confirmation was not in doubt, as Republicans seized the opportunity to install a third Donald Trump-nominated judge, securing a conservative majority on the nation’s highest court for years to come.
With no real power to stop the vote, Democrats had argued until Sunday night that the winner of the November 3 presidential election should pick the candidate to fill the vacancy left after the death of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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But the Senate voted 51-48 in favor of it being a voting process with a final 30 hours of debate.
Ms. Barrett’s confirmation opens up possible new rulings on abortion, gay marriage and the Affordable Care Act, as the court now has a solid 6-3 conservative majority.
The 48-year-old is expected to participate in a crucial hearing on Nov.10, when Republicans will ask the court to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
The law, popularly known as Obamacare, has helped millions of Americans obtain health insurance and protected people with pre-existing conditions.
President Donald Trump announced Ms Barrett as his nominee in September and has said she should be in her place before the election.
It is the first confirmation of a Supreme Court candidate so close to a presidential election, with more than 58 million votes already cast.
He is also one of the first high court nominees in recent memory to receive no minority party support in the Senate. Previously, presidential elections often won wide support.
Trump has repeatedly said that he wanted Ms. Barrett to vote on any election-related cases that could end up in the Supreme Court.
Ms. Barrett has been a federal appeals court judge since 2017 and was previously a legal scholar at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
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