A deeply divided US Senate pushed Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination past a key procedural hurdle on Friday, setting up a likely final showdown this weekend.
Claims of long-ago sexual assault allegedly committed by the nominee threatened to derail President Donald Trump's effort to tip the court rightward for decades.
Trump's team claimed a victory in Friday's vote, which saw hundreds of protesters gather at Capitol Hill to demonstrate against Kavanaugh's nomination.
"Very proud of the US Senate for voting 'YES' to advance the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh!" Trump tweeted after the Senate vote.
Earlier in the day, the president slammed the anti-Kavanaugh protesters as "paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad".
He also tweeted describing the women as "rude elevator screamers" and said they have "professionally made identical signs."
The Senate voted 51-49 to limit debate, effectively defeating Democratic efforts to scuttle the nomination with endless delays. With Republicans clinging to a two-vote majority, one Republican voted to stop the nomination, one Democrat to send it further.
Of the four lawmakers who had not revealed their decisions until Friday, Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Jeff Flake of Arizona voted yes, as did Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted not to send the nomination to the full Senate.
Lawmakers might vote differently on the climactic confirmation roll call, and Collins told reporters that she wouldn't rule out doing so.
That left unclear whether Friday's tally signaled that the 53-year-old federal appellate judge was on his way to the nation's highest court.
Confirmation would be a crowning achievement for Trump, his conservative base and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The vote occurred a day after the Senate received a roughly 50-page FBI report on the sexual assault allegations, which Trump ordered only after wavering GOP senators forced him to do so.