The U.S. Senate on Saturday narrowly confirmed Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, ending one of the most contentious, tawdry and partisan battles in history over a high court seat.

The vote was 50-48.

Colorado’s senators split their votes, with Republican Cory Gardner voting to confirm Kavanaugh and Democrat Michael Bennet voting no.

One senator, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted present to accommodate absent Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, who was attending his daughter’s wedding. One embattled Democrat, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, up for re-election in a state that favored President Donald Trump by 42 points, voted for Kavanaugh.

Otherwise, all Republicans voted to confirm and all Democrats voted against Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh – previously a federal appellate judge – was sworn in at the Supreme Court a short time after the vote in a private ceremony.

Trump celebrated Kavanaugh’s imminent confirmation as he boarded Marine One in the first leg of a trip to Kansas for a campaign rally.

“He’s going to be a great, great Supreme Court justice,” Trump said. “It’s an exciting time.”

Kavanaugh is the second justice to be picked for the high court by Trump, following Colorado’s Neil Gorsuch.

Senators gathered in the chamber and voted from their seats on Kavanaugh’s nomination as thousands of protesters gathered outside the Capitol, Supreme Court and on the surrounding streets, forcing road closures by the U.S. Capitol Police.

In recent weeks, Kavanaugh’s confirmation was consumed and nearly derailed by a string of sudden sexual assault allegations that surfaced just as his nomination was poised to advance to the Senate floor.

One accusation by Christine Blasey Ford, who said Kavanaugh attempted to sexually assault her at a party while in high school, was aired last month in an emotional public hearing viewed by millions of people.

Later, Deborah Ramirez of Colorado came forward with her own accusations, saying Kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a drunken party while they were Yale University classmates.

> RELATED: Colorado woman accuses Kavanaugh: Here’s all of CoPo’s coverage

Kavanaugh denied Ford’s and Ramirez’s allegations.

Kavanaugh won confirmation after all but one Republican decided the decades-old sexual misconduct allegations leveled against him were not credible enough to deny him a seat on the court after what has otherwise been a stand-out career on the federal bench and working for the administration of President George W. Bush.

“Judge Kavanaugh is quite possibly the most qualified person ever nominated to the Supreme Court,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said just before the final vote.

On Friday, Gardner said he would vote for Kavanaugh, declaring that “no evidence was found by the FBI” in its supplemental investigation in recent days “to corroborate the allegations made against him.”

Gardner also praised “victimized women” who come forward, calling them “brave and courageous.”

In July, after meeting Kavanaugh and before accusations of misconduct had emerged, Gardner said the jurist would make “an incredible Supreme Court justice,” adding: “Clearly he is a well-qualified judge who has incredible experience in the federal courts.”

Democrats remained firm in their opposition to Kavanaugh, arguing the allegations from Ford and Ramirez were not investigated thoroughly even though the FBI re-opened a background check last week.

On Thursday evening, Bennet argued on the Senate floor against Kavanaugh’s nomination, stating that his confirmation “would threaten hard-won progress” for Coloradans with pre-existing health conditions, same-sex couples and survivors of sexual assault, among others.

The Colorado Democrats had said almost a month ago – long before allegations of sexual misconduct emerged – that he would vote against Kavanaugh.

“A lot of people weren’t interviewed” about allegations against Kavanaugh, said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn, who is a member of the Judiciary Committee. “A lot of the names Dr. Ford and one of the other alleged allegations, Ms. Ramirez, wanted. This has not been the fair process that Judge Kavanaugh said he wanted and that Dr. Ford said she wanted.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called Kavanaugh “an extreme partisan,” who does not belong on the bench because he misled the Senate throughout the confirmation process.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, in a floor speech supporting Kavanaugh, called the charges “unproven allegations about adolescent conduct.”

He added, “We must all learn from this cruel, reckless and indecent episode.”

Republicans framed their support of Kavanaugh as a vote against “mob rule,” in reference to the vocal protesters who have swarmed Senate office buildings and the homes of Senators for days in an effort to persuade them to vote against him.

“I’ve never seen anything like it in the eight years that I’ve been serving in this body,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said. “Every day when we show up to work as we walk to our offices we have to walk through a sea, a mod of angry protesters. People screaming, shouting, yelling things at us. Not pleasant things.”

Shouting protesters allowed into the public viewing galleries interrupted Senate floor speeches and the final vote.

Outside the Capitol, most of protesters carried signs and shouted in opposition to Kavanaugh, who is poised to tilt the court more definitively to the right than it has been in many decades.

The fight bitterly divided the Senate in ways reminiscent of the battle to defeat Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork and confirm now Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.

Republicans accused Democrats of engaging in “the politics of personal destruction,” in an effort to try to destroy Kavanaugh’s nomination. Democrats knew about the Ford accusation in July but it was not disclosed until someone leaked it to the press days before Kavanaugh was set to be confirmed.

Since then, accusations against Kavanaugh poured into the Senate including charges that he drugged and gang raped women. College roommates surfaced to accuse him of heavy drinking decades ago and the New York Times dug up an old police report in which he was questioned about tossing ice at a bar patron.

Lawmakers grilled Kavanaugh over high school year book entries, including descriptions of drinking games and references to flatulence.

Confirmation, however, may not shield Kavanaugh from future charges.

House Democrats are now threatening to re-open the investigation into allegations against Kavanaugh if they win back the majority in November.

“We are going to have to do something to provide a check and balance, to protect the rule of law and to protect the legitimacy of one of our most important institution,” U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, in line to become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee if Republicans lose control this November, told the New York Times.

Colorado Politics contributed.