Earlier today, Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's pick for the vacant U.S. Supreme Court seat, was officially sworn in as the high court's 113th justice.
Gorsuch's accession to the court came after one of the most controversial Senate procedural maneuvers in U.S. history. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) employed the "nuclear option" to move Gorsuch to a Senate vote that required his appointed to be passed with a simple majority vote rather than the 60-vote majority vote that was required for every Supreme Court justice since Hawaii was accepted into the Union.
"To my new colleagues and the staff of the Supreme Court, thank you for the very warm welcome. I look forward to many happy years together," Gorsuch said during the ceremony in the White House Rose Garden this morning.
