Watch live: Senate vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to Supreme Court

Supreme Court confirmation hearing
Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 4.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images

The Senate is expected to vote Saturday on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh and — barring a major unforeseen development — in all likelihood, he will be confirmed by the narrowest of margins.

A vote is expected at about 2:30 p.m. Central time.

In the hours before the vote, police arrested demonstrators who had broken through barriers around the Capitol and tried to climb the building's steps.

Supreme Court protests
Protesters rally against the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, outside of the Supreme Court on Saturday.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images

On Friday, after the nomination cleared a key procedural hurdle with a 51-49 vote, two previously undecided senators, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced they would support Kavanaugh. That support all but assures Republicans of the votes they need to push the nomination across the finish line.

If the vote goes as expected, Kavanaugh will become President Trump's second appointment to the Supreme Court, creating a conservative 5-4 majority on the nation's highest court for years to come.