The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Kirkland & Ellis litigation partner Daniel Bress to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a 53-45 vote.

Bress, whose nomination had been opposed by California's Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, is set to become the seventh judge appointed by President Donald Trump to take the Ninth Circuit bench. Feinstein and Harris had raised concerns prior to Bress' confirmation hearing in May that he is a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer with little claim to a seat based in California. Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee including Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, however, dismissed those concerns, noting that Bress was born in rural California, has close family ties to the states, and still litigates in its courts. He passed out of the committee in a party line vote last month.

With one more seat currently open on the court's 29-judge active bench and Ninth Circuit Judges Carlos Bea of California and Jay Bybee of Nevada recently announcing their plans to take senior status, the president has the opportunity to further shape a court that he has frequently criticized for ruling against his administration. If Trump were to fill the current vacancy in Oregon as well as the seats currently occupied by Bybee and Bea, the court would have 16 active judges appointed by Democratic presidents and 13 by Republican presidents.