The Senate change, affecting how many votes a nominee needs for confirmation, will apply to all future Supreme Court candidates, likely ensuring more ideological justices chosen with no need for consultation with the minority party. The judge's confirmation gives President Donald Trump a much-needed win, as his legislative agenda has been floundering since the Obamacare-repeal debacle. Republicans blocked Barack Obama from filling the seat all previous year.
Being among the youngest Supreme Court nominees, Gorsuch has served as an appeals judge for the 10th Circuit in the USA state of Colorado since 2006.
The Senate confirm Gorsuch 54-45 with three Democrats siding with Republicans - Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of IN and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Johnny Isakson of Georgia.
Schumer led the fight against Gorsuch, in part because debate on the nomination of Merrick Garland was blocked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Grassley in early 2016.
The developments were accompanied by unusually bitter accusations and counter-accusations.
Gorsuch will officially be a member of the court once he takes the two oaths.
Cory Gardner of Colorado voted with the Senate GOP majority to confirm Gorsuch while Michael Bennet, his Democratic counterpart, opposed his appointment.
In the days leading up to Gorsuch's confirmation, Collins and Coons led bipartisan negotiations to try to head off the nuclear option, which changed the Senate rules over the objection of Democrats in the same way that in 2013 Democrats used the nuclear option to make it easier to confirm President Barack Obama's executive branch and lower-court nominees.
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The resolution garnered 10 votes in favor, Russian Federation and Bolivia against, and China, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia abstaining. President Donald Trump has declared that USA relations with Russian Federation "may be at an all-time low".
Gorsuch was confirmed Friday by the Senate. McConnell vowed that would not happen on his watch.
A graduate of Columbia, Harvard and Oxford, Gorsuch served as a Supreme Court law clerk and worked as a lawyer at the Washington law firm and at the Justice Department.
Gorsuch's confirmation restores the nine-seat court's 5-4 conservative majority, and enables Trump to leave an indelible mark on America's highest judicial body.
McConnell's decision past year to hold the Supreme Court seat open was seen as a gamble, questioned even by some in his party, but it's now viewed by Republicans as a political master stroke. He told reporters that he views his refusal to fill Scalia's seat, which was initially questioned by some fellow Republicans, as "the most consequential decision I've ever been involved in".
The Supreme Court is now in recess.
"He's an exceptional choice", McConnell said.
Associated Press writers Mark Sherman, Mary Clare Jalonick, Stephen Ohlemacher and Matthew Daly contributed.
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