Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice on the White House South Lawn in front of Donald Trump by Clarence Thomas Monday night - an hour after a divided Senate voted for her confirmation.
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Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court by a 52-48 vote - with Republican Susan Collins crossing the aisle to vote against her. Her confirmation immediately makes the court solidly conservative with a 6-3 majority.
At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue at 9pm, and in the face of a pandemic which reached a new record number of cases, Trump turned the South Lawn into the venue for a celebration of Coney Barrett's swearing-in.
Trump praised Coney Barrett's 'towering intellect,' and 'impeccable credentials,' as he spoke with the new justice on his right and Thomas on his left.
After Thomas swore her in Coney Barrett thanks the senators who voted for her and said: 'I pledge to you and to the American people that I will discharge my duties to the best of my ability.'
And in an acknowledgment of her highly-controversial confirmation process and the focus on her conservative Catholic beliefs and open espousal of pro-life beliefs while she was an academic.
'I will do my job without any fear or favor and that I will do so independently of both the political branches and my personal preferences.'
In front of Coney Barrett and Trump on the South Lawn were Coney Barrett's husband Jesse, First Lady Melania Trump, and some of the Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee including Ted Ctruz, as well as White House aides.
The event was in the dark but inevitably echoed the superspreader unveiling of Coney Barrett in the Rose Garden exactly a month ago, which left former New Jersey governor Chris Christie in intensive care and was quickly followed by Trump and Melania getting COVID.
This time however - and for the first time at the White House - chairs were spread apart and many of the guests were wearing masks.
Not present were Mike Pence, the vice president who has continued to campaign for Trump despite five of his aides including his closest staff member testing positive for COVID, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has not been to the White House since August because of his concern it is unsafe.