Under Article II, Section II of the Constitution of the United States, the Senate is responsible for confirming nominations to the Supreme Court put forth by the president. That constitutional provision reads as follows:
He [the president] . . . shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
The answer to the question—which part of Congress must approve a nomination to the Supreme Court—is the United States Senate.
When the president nominates an individual to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, the matter of the nomination is sent to the Senate, the parliamentarian of which refers it to the Committee on the Judiciary, which enjoys a measure of oversight of the judicial system. The committee, then, holds a series of public hearings into the nominee’s background, judicial philosophy, and fitness for the lifetime position on the nation’s highest court. Following these hearings, which have become increasingly acrimonious over the past several decades, the Judiciary Committee votes on whether its members support or oppose the nomination in question. This vote is usually a partisan matter, with the party of the occupant of the White House voting in favor of the nomination and the opposition party voting against it. The nomination then goes to the full Senate for debate and a final vote on whether to confirm the nominee. A simple majority is all that is required to confirm a nominee to the Supreme Court.
Because the rules of the Senate historically allowed for individual or groups of senators to filibuster nominations (i.e., tie up the Senate floor with very long procedural discussions or meaningless verbiage meant to take up time and make conduct of a vote less likely), the actual number of senators required to prevent a filibuster and allow a vote on whether to confirm to take place was 60. In 2013, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, tired of Republican senators stonewalling of Democratic President Barack Obama’s nominees to the court, changed Senate rules to allow a simple majority of senators voting to end a filibuster. Consequently, it is far easier today for Supreme Court nominees to have their fate decided upon based on a straight up-or-down vote rather than needing 60 senators to support ending a filibuster and allowing a final vote on the nomination to take place.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CONAN-1992/pdf/GPO-CONAN-1992-6.pdf
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/democrats-trump-cabinet-senate/513782/
When the Founding Fathers wrote our Constitution, they created a system of checks and balances to ensure that no branch of government became too powerful. They also gave each branch of government a different responsibility. The executive branch has many responsibilities. One of these responsibilities is that the President must nominate a judge to fill an opening on the Supreme Court. However, this does not mean this person will automatically become one of the nine Supreme Court justices.
One of the checks on the President’s powers is that the United States Senate must approve all federal judicial appointments, including appointments made to the Supreme Court. This can be a lengthy and contentious process. When President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to fill an open seat on the Supreme Court, the Senate refused to hold a vote on the nomination because it was made in the last year of President Obama’s term in office. When President Trump took office, he nominated Neil Gorsuch. The confirmation process was lengthy. Eventually, the United States Senate approved the nomination of Neil Gorsuch as a justice of the Supreme Court.
https://www.thoughtco.com/understanding-the-supreme-court-nomination-process-3368219
https://www.ushistory.org/gov/9d.asp
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