Chuck Grassley.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley wore a face mask patterned after the Iowa flag tonight as he announced the Senate vote on President Trump’s third nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“On this vote, the yeas are 52. The nays are 48. The nomination of Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana to be an associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States is confirmed!” Grassley said.
All but one of the Republican Senators who voted for Barrett applauded the announcement. Grassley is the longest-serving Republican in the U.S. Senate, so he is the Senate President Pro Tempore and he was the Senate’s presiding officer tonight.
Vice President Mike Pence was in the presiding officer’s chair to announce Trump nominees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh had been confirmed by the Senate. While Pence has tested negative for Covid, at least five of his staff members, including his chief of staff, have tested positive for the virus and Pence was not on the Senate floor to announce the vote.