The United States Senate has confirmed conservative Judge Neil Gorsuch as a justice of the Supreme Court.
The confirmation vote came on April 7, one day after Senate Republican's changed the body's rules to allow Gorsuch's nomination to proceed with a simple majority of votes.
The vote was 54 in favor and 45 against.
Gorsuch's nomination by President Donald Trump was controversial because Republicans in the Senate refused to give a confirmation hearing to former President Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, for nine months, saying the vacancy should be filled by the president elected in the November 2016 election.
Gorsuch, 49, was expected to restore the court's 5-4 conservative majority. He fills the vacancy left by the February 2016 death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
