President Trump, Judge Merrick Garland, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and other Republican luminaries were on hand Thursday at the Supreme Court for Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s formal swearing-in.
Security at the Supreme Court was heightened for the event, which began just after 10 a.m. when the president and first lady Melania Trump took their seats next to retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose retirement opened the seat for Kavanaugh.
The investiture ceremony was brief, lasting less than 10 minutes. Kavanaugh was seated in the well of the courtroom in the chair used by Chief Justice John Marshall. He did not take the traditional walk down the Supreme Court’s front steps after the event due to security reasons, the court’s public information office said last week.
Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, who replaced former Attorney General Jeff Sessions after he was fired Wednesday, moved to enter Kavanaugh’s commission into the record, after which Chief Justice John Roberts administered the judicial oath to the newest justice.
The commission, read by the clerk of the court, was signed by Sessions.
After administering the oath, Roberts wished Kavanaugh a “long and happy career in our common calling.” Kavanaugh then returned to his seat on the bench, and shook hands with Justices Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan along the way.
Others attending the ceremony were Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Solicitor General Noel Francisco, who sat at the counsel’s table directly in front of the justices during the ceremony.
McConnell and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, his wife, as well as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., attended.
From the White House, chief of staff John Kelly and press secretary Sarah Sanders were in the audience, as was former White House counsel Don McGahn.
McGahn played a crucial role in Kavanaugh’s confirmation, accompanying him to meetings with senators on Capitol Hill and working to save the nomination after Kavanaugh faced allegations of sexual misconduct. He left his post at the White House last month.
Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and other judges on the appeals court, on which Kavanaugh served for 12 years, were also among the guests.
Garland was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Obama in 2016 after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. But McConnell refused to hold confirmation hearings for Garland because it was a presidential election year.
Trump ultimately appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacancy.
The president and first lady met with the justices before the ceremony for roughly 10 minutes in the justice’s conference room.
Absent from Tuesday’s ceremony was Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was admitted to the hospital for observation early Thursday morning after fracturing three ribs.
Kavanaugh was confirmed by the Senate in a slim 50-48 vote at the beginning of October. He was sworn in as the Supreme Court’s newest justice following the vote, and participated in his first oral argument days later.
