Trump's pick Gorsuch sworn in, restoring top court's conservative tilt

Donald Trump reveled in the biggest political victory of his presidency at a White House ceremony on Monday in which his Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch was sworn in, poised to make an instant impact on a court once again dominated by conservatives.

Trump was able to fulfill a top campaign promise when the Republican-led US Senate voted to confirm the conservative Colorado-based federal appeals court judge to the lifetime job on Friday despite vehement Democratic opposition.

With Gorsuch aboard, the court has five conservative justices and four liberals, a majority that could be pivotal in deciding a range of issues including abortion, gun control, the death penalty, presidential powers, political spending, environmental regulation and religious rights.

Standing in the White House Rose Garden under bright sunshine on a warm spring day, Trump tied the occasion to the political aims of his administration, as the eight other members of the nation's highest court looked on.

"Together we are in a process of reviewing and renewing and also rebuilding our country," Trump told an audience that included conservative activists and administration officials. "A new optimism is sweeping across our land and a new faith in America is filling our hearts and lifting our sights."

Gorsuch filled a vacancy that had lingered for nearly 14 months after conservative Justice Antonin Scalia's February 2016 death. Gorsuch's judicial oath was administered by Justice Anthony Kennedy, for whom Gorsuch worked as a clerk as a young lawyer. Gorsuch becomes the first justice to serve alongside a former boss.

Trump made a point of thanking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for his role in winning confirmation. McConnell last week led the effort to change long-standing Senate rules in order to end a Democratic blockade of Gorsuch's nomination. Under McConnell's leadership, the Senate last year refused to consider Democratic former President Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to replace Scalia, an appointment that would have tilted the court to the left for the first time in decades.

"I've always heard that the most important thing that a president of the United States does is appoint people, hopefully great people like this appointment, to the United States Supreme Court," Trump said.

"He will decide cases not based on his personal preferences but based on a fair and objective reading of the law," Trump said of Gorsuch.

Agencies