The US Senate voted 70-30 on Wednesday to confirm Merrick Garland to be attorney general. Twenty Republicans joined all 50 Democrats in confirming the nomination.

Garland was a federal prosecutor involved in the Oklahoma City Bombing investigation before being appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit where he has served as a judge since 1997 and as chief judge since 2013. Then-president Barack Obama nominated Garland in 2016 to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death. However, the Republican-controlled Senate at the time refused to grant Garland a hearing, and his nomination expired, paving the way for Donald Trump to nominate Neil Gorsuch for the seat in 2017.

During his confirmation hearing, Garland called the January 6 Capitol Riot “a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy” and pointed to his Oklahoma City experience combating domestic terrorism as a guide to pursue the rioters and the ringleaders behind the attack. He also stressed the nonpartisan nature of the Justice Department and promised to keep politics out of investigations. The department under the previous attorney general William Barr has been accused of intervening in investigations to satisfy the personal interests of then-president Trump.

Garland is expected to be sworn in during a ceremony at the Justice Department on Thursday.