The Senate voted 72-24 Wednesday to confirm Christopher Schroeder to lead the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy.

President Barack Obama renamed Schroeder to the post earlier this year after his nomination was returned to the White House on Christmas Eve just before the Senate adjourned for the year. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last week filed a cloture petition to consider Schroeder’s nomination but instead worked out an agreement to debate and vote on the nomination.

Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) bemoaned the long lag time to confirm Schroeder, now responsible for vetting judicial nominations at the Justice Department, and said the “delay in considering his nomination in the Senate is a sign of the extent of the Republican effort to obstruct President Obama’s nominations.”