The U.S. Senate on Tuesday unanimously confirmed New Jersey federal judge Joseph Greenaway Jr.’s appointment to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, ending four months of limbo for a candidacy buffeted by Republican opposition to President Barack Obama’s nominees.

Greenaway, who has been on the federal district court in Newark, N.J., for 13 years, will take the appeals court seat vacated in 2006 when Samuel Alito Jr. was named to the U.S. Supreme Court.