Kavanaugh, who served as part of special counsel Kenneth Starr’s team that investigated Democratic President Bill Clinton in the 1990s and testified that the sexual misconduct accusations were funded by left-wing groups seeking revenge on behalf of the Clintons, said the Supreme Court was not a partisan body.
“The Supreme Court is an institution of law. It is not a partisan or political institution,” he said. “The Supreme Court is a team of nine, and I will always be a team player on the team of nine.”
Kavanaugh’s confirmation proceedings exploded in controversy after Christine Blasey Ford went public with allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982.
Kavanaugh gave a forceful, emotional denial of those allegations during testimony before lawmakers that some Democrats said showed a lack of judicial temperament.
The US Senate voted 50-48 on Saturday to confirm him, with just one Democrat supporting him.
His confirmation to the lifetime job was a victory for Trump and locked in a conservative majority on the court.
TRUMP APOLOGIZES FOR PROCESS
“On behalf of our nation, I want to apologize to Brett and the entire Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure,” Trump said at the start of a ceremonial swearing-in.
“Those who step forward to serve our country deserve a fair and dignified evaluation, not a campaign of political and personal destruction based on lies and deception,” he said.
Trump, under pressure from moderate Republican senators, had ordered a brief FBI investigation, whose results Republicans viewed as failing to corroborate the allegations and which Democrats saw as insufficient.