Kavanaugh is accompanied by his wife Ashley Kavanaugh, third from left, and children Margaret, second from left, and Liza. Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday that President Trump's remarks at Kavanaugh's swearing-in ceremony "further undermined the image and integrity of the court".

Ceremonial swearing-ins are unusual for new justices. He added however that if someone else were to take over the role of committee chair, "they'll have to decide for themselves, but that's a decision I made a long time ago".

Kavanaugh, noting that the court "is not a partisan or political institution", vowed to "always be a team player on a team of nine".

But, he told the new justice, "You, sir, under historic scrutiny, were proven innocent".

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said Washington, D.C. maybe become "uninhabitable for a while" if the Democrats do not retake the House in November's midterm elections.

Retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, whom Kavanaugh once clerked for and whose place he has taken on the court, administered the oath of office.

McConnell told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that "She's certainly going to recover".

"The American public has seen this charade, has seen this dishonesty by the Democrats". On the Supreme Court, I will seek to be a force for stability and unity. Kavanaugh emphatically denied the allegations.

The crowd was orders of magnitude smaller than the throngs of women who occupied Senate halls and heckled Republican senators in the runup to Kavanaugh's critical confirmation vote last Saturday, but used the same costumes and held the same signs: "Kava-Nope", "Believe Survivors", and "We do not consent".

At a political rally in support of Iowa and Nebraska Republicans, Trump called the Democrats' attempt to block Kavanaugh from the high court "a national embarrassment, a national disgrace", without mentioning the sexual assault accusation raised by Christine Blasey Ford when she and Kavanaugh were high school students in 1982.

A recent CNN poll found that 58 percent of independents - meaning non-partisan voters - disapprove of how the Democrats handled the Kavanaugh controversy and only 30 percent approve of their behavior. By comparison, fewer Democrats (48%) are Very Angry about the Senate's treatment of Ford; 28% of GOP voters and 30% of unaffiliateds agree.

Kavanaugh described the confirmation process as "contentious and emotional", but said he has "no bitterness".

"The Trump Administration is rewriting the rules on guaranteed health care protections that millions of Americans depend on", said Baldwin, who's up for re-election this year in a state President Donald Trump won in 2016, in a statement.

Kavanaugh can be expected to cast crucial votes on those issues as well as gun control, immigration, voting rights and others.

Between Thursday and Saturday of last week, the Capitol Police arrested more than 544 protesters related to the Kavanaugh nomination.