This article originally appeared on Time.
Neil Gorsuch has been sworn in as the newest Associate Justice on the Supreme Court.
Gorsuch’s former boss Justice Anthony Kennedy administered the oath to him in the White House Rose Garden Monday morning. (Gorsuch took two separate oaths, one in a private ceremony at the court with the oath administered by Chief Justice John Roberts, and the second at the public White House ceremony.)
Gorsuch clerked for Kennedy, and he’s now the first ever former clerk joining his boss on the bench. He referred to Kennedy as his “mentor” and noted that Kennedy also administered his oath 11 years ago when he became a circuit court judge.
“It is a fitting testament to Justice Kennedy’s impact,” President Trump said of the pair’s historic relationship. “That’s sort of a big deal isn’t it? I sort of like that.”
Trump also told Gorsuch that “our country is counting on you to be wise impartial and fair,” and predicted that he would go down as “one of the truly great justices” in the Court’s history.
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For his part, Gorsuch said that “this process has reminded me just how outrageously blessed I am” and that he is “humbled by the trust placed in me today.”
Gorsuch’s ascendancy comes after a year of bruising political fights and a record-breaking 422-day vacancy on the high court after late-Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016.
Addressing Scalia’s family, Gorsuch said, “I won’t ever forget that the seat I inherit today is that of a very, very great man.”