The Senate voted yesterday 52-48 in favour of confirming the 48-year-old; the protégée of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, The New York Times reports.

President Trump, unusually, held a swearing-in ceremony at night for Judge Barrett on the South Lawn of the White House. Neither of them wore masks, possibly because they have both had coronavirus and may be immune.

Mr Trump has explicitly stated he wanted Judge Barrett on the bench before the election so she would have a vote in any legal dispute over the balloting that may occur.

Upon being sworn in, however, Justice Barrett said: “A judge declares independence not only from the Congress and the president, but also from the private beliefs that might otherwise move her,” Justice Barrett said after being sworn in. “The oath I have solemnly taken tonight,” she added, “means at its core that I will do my job without any fear or favor and that I will do so independently of both the political branches and of my own preferences.”

The Democrats vowed on Monday night that there would be reprisals.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district, said the Democrats ought to expand the court if they won the presidency and took control of the Senate.

While Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has not agreed to this, he has said he would establish a bipartisan commission to look at ways to reform the court.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, said in an email to her supporters minutes after the vote: “They stole another Supreme Court seat just eight days before the end of the election, after tens of millions of Americans had already cast their ballots, and just 15 days before the Supreme Court will hear a case that could overturn the Affordable Care Act.”