Trump nominates Neil Gorsuch, U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court
In a highly anticipated announcement, President Trump announced Neil Gorsuch as his nominee to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court. The seat, formerly held by the late Antonin Scalia, has been empty since Scalia’s sudden death in February of 2016.
Gorsuch has served on the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Colorado, since his appointment by President George W. Bush in 2006. He was confirmed by the Senate at the time in a voice vote, indicating little Democratic opposition. Gorsuch obtained his undergraduate education at Columbia University and his law degree from Harvard Law. In addition, he has a Doctorate of Philosophy in Law from Oxford University.
Gorsuch began his professional career as a law clerk for the Hon. David B. Sentelle, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit. He then clerked for two U.S. Supreme Court justices, Associate Justice Byron R. White and Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. After a decade in private practice, he served as the principal deputy to Robert D. McCallum, Jr., the associate attorney general for a year, before being nominated to the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006.
Gorsuch is considered to be similar to the late Justice Scalia in that he favors an originalist interpretation of the Constitution and textualist interpretation of laws. This means that he seeks to interpret the Constitution as it was originally written rather than viewing the Constitution as an evolving document and considers the text of laws themselves rather than lawmakers intention or the impact of a law’s implementation. This has led to him siding with both conservatives and liberals in his court rulings.
Notable past cases that Gorsuch ruled on include Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., and Summum v. Pleasant Grove City. In Burwell, Gorsuch held that the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that corporations provide copay-free coverage of contraceptives and abortifacients constituted a violation of the employer’s right to religious liberty. In Summum, Gorsuch upheld the right of a municipality to display a privately-donated monument of the Ten Commandments without displaying a donated monument of other religions.
The Rover reached out to the College Republicans and the College Democrats of Notre Dame. Senior Dylan Stevenson, vice president of College Republicans approved of the choice, saying “Gorsuch is considered an originalist in his views of the constitution, and is a proponent of state’s rights and limiting the power of the federal government, much like the late justice Antonin Scalia.” Stevenson viewed the nomination as “following through on [Trump’s] promise to appoint a conservative to SCOTUS,” and said that he “looks forward to seeing the good work that will be done by Gorsuch on the highest court in the land.” As of yet, Notre Dame College Democrats has not responded to inquiries.
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