WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to confirm former Ohio Solicitor General Eric Murphy as a federal judge over objections from Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who objected to arguments Murphy made in Ohio cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Murphy, a former clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, was confirmed in a 52 to 46 vote to fill the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals vacancy created when Judge Alice Batchelder took senior status.

He grew up in the Cincinnati area, graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and earned his law degree from University of Chicago. Before becoming Solicitor General, he practiced in the Columbus office of Jones Day. As Solicitor General, he successfully defended Ohio’s methods of culling its voter rolls before the U.S. Supreme Court. He also defended Ohio’s laws against gay marriage in the landmark Obergefell v. Hodge case that legalized same-sex nuptials nationwide.

Congratulations to @realDonaldTrump's recent nominees to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.



Eric Murphy and Chad Readler will be great additions to the federal bench and I look forward to them being approved in the Senate.



Read more here: https://t.co/8mIhsyxqE6 — Jim Renacci (@JimRenacci) June 8, 2018

Brown criticized Murphy for his arguments “against marriage equality” and his defense of a "voter purge that unfairly stripped Ohioans, innocent Ohioans, of their vote registration.” He also said Murphy defended the Trump administration’s ban on people entering the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries.

“I cannot support nominees who have actively worked to strip Ohioans of their rights,” said a statement from Brown. “Special interests already have armies of lobbyists and lawyers on their side, they don’t need judges in their pockets.”

Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman supported his nomination, calling him “highly experienced” and noting that he was highly ranked by the American Bar Association.

During his confirmation hearing, Murphy declined to discuss his personal opinions on hot button issues , but vowed to follow precedents set by Supreme Court decisions.

He said clerking for Kennedy and Fourth Circuit appeals Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson "taught me many things including the importance of an independent judiciary, of keeping an open mind, of the difference between law and policy and of the requirements to, in Justice Kennedy’s word, “sometimes make decisions we do not like when the law compels that result.”