On October 6th, Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed as the 114th justice to the Supreme Court by one of the closest votes in history. Kavanaugh’s confirmation leads off the beginning of a new era of a conservative majority in the supreme court.

Senators cast their votes, primarily along party lines, to promote Judge Kavanaugh with a final vote of 50-48. Thefinal results were expected, and most senators had announced how they would vote the Friday before.

As protestors shouted “Shame! Shame!” and “I do not consent”, each Senator stood at his or her desk to cast a vote. Mike Pence, fulfilling his role of president of the senate, had to restore order multiple times as protestors were escorted throughout the hearing for disturbing/delaying the vote. Right as Arizona Senator Jeff Flake voted in favor of Kavanaugh, one man stood up, shouting “You are a coward Flake, a total coward.”

Later when Joe Manchin, the only Democrat who voted in favor of Kavanaugh, stood to vote a protester shouted “History is watching. We will not forget”. Joe Manchin is running for reelection in West Virginia, a primarily red state.

The only Republican to oppose Kavanaugh’s confirmation was Senator Lisa Murkowiski (R-AK), who later withdrew her vote as a courtesy to Steve Davis (R-Mont.), who had to miss the vote.

Current Supreme Court Judges seemed to lack confidence in Kavanaugh. Justice Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor expressed their concern that all of the partasian spite would damage the Supreme Court. “Part of the court’s strength and part of the court’s legitimacy depends on people not seeing the court in the way that people see the rest of the governing structures of this country now,” Justice Kagan said during an appearance at Princeton University.

What started as a debate over judicial ideology, and ended in a nearly devastating sexual assault allegation, Kavanaugh’s confirmation battle highlights partasian tension as the midterm elections approach. From beginning to end, the 114th Supreme Court Justice’s confirmation will have profound impact on these upcoming elections, with both parties attempting to use it to their advantage.

Democrats are using the Kavanaugh confirmation to fire up their support base, specifically women and young voters. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) delivered a message after the confirmation, “to so many millions who are outraged by what happened here . . . vote.”

Despite Ford’s allegations, which Kavanaugh denies, Republicans are saying this confirmation has helped reunite a fractured party. In an attempt to maintain Republican majority in the White House and Congress, Republicans are portraying the Democrats and the protestors as “angry mobsters”.

“It’s been a great political gift for us…. I want to thank the mob, because they’ve done the one thing we were having trouble doing, which was energizing our base” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Kavanaugh was sworn in at a private ceremony by Chief Justice Roberts and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy only hours later. This allowed Kavanaugh to jump right into things, hearing a case on October 9th concerning prison sentences for repeat offenders (Stokeling v United States).