Congratulations to Judge Brett Kavanaugh, whose nomination to the Supreme Court was confirmed by the Senate today by a vote of 50 to 48. This evening at the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Roberts administered the constitutional oath and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, for whom Judge Kavanaugh clerked, administered the judicial oath. Now-Justice Kavanaugh will take his seat when the Court sits again on Tuesday.

Judge Kavanaugh survived one of the most acrimonious judicial confirmation processes in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s history. The reasons for that are many, as I wrote in an op-ed in TIME magazine last week. But in one way or another, the divisions that so divide us today all come down to fundamental misunderstandings of the Constitution and, accordingly, to an expectation among so many Americans that the Court will solve the many problems that today afflict the nation. The Court, now back to full strength, may make a dent in those problems, but their roots are much deeper. Still, the Senate’s vote today is a start.