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Breaking: Trump Chooses Gorsuch for SCOTUS
President Donald Trump has selected Neil M. Gorsuch to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court. He made the announcement in a live, televised event from the White House that began at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
Gorsuch prevailed over the other finalists, Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, and William H. Pryor Jr. of Alabama, and was easily confirmed by the Senate 10 years ago to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Colorado.
In the announcement, Trump said, “Judge Gorsuch has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline and has earned bipartisan support…. I only hope that both Democrats and Republicans can come together for once, for the good of the country.”
At National Review, Ramesh Ponnuru praised the pick as a worth heir to Scalia.
He is, like Scalia, a textualist and an originalist: someone who interprets legal provisions as their words were originally understood.
Gorsuch is a Colorado native and the son of a Republican politician, the late Anne Gorsuch Burford, who was a state legislator and then director of the Environmental Protection Agency for President Reagan. He attended Columbia University and Harvard Law School, after which he clerked for D.C. Circuit Court judge David Sentelle. He then clerked for Supreme Court justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy in 1993–94. The next year he studied for a doctorate of philosophy at Oxford University under the legal philosopher John Finnis. After spending ten years at a law firm in Washington, D.C., Gorsuch went to work for the Justice Department in 2005–06. President George W. Bush nominated him to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico. His confirmation was quick and uncontroversial.
At SCOTUSblog, Andrew Hamm outlines his qualifications.
If Trump does nominate Gorsuch, the judge’s 49 years would make him – despite his gray hair – among the youngest of recent Supreme Court nominees (Justice Clarence Thomas was 43 when nominated, and Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan were both 50.). In the early 1980s, when Scalia was beginning his judicial career, Gorsuch was just beginning to assemble the glittering résumé that may have him at the cusp of an appointment to the court. President Ronald Reagan’s choice of Gorsuch’s mother, Anne Gorsuch Burford, to head the Environmental Protection Agency in 1981 brought the Denver teenager to Washington, where he attended Bethesda’s Georgetown Preparatory School and won a national debate championship. Gorsuch completed his undergraduate degree at Columbia University, where he co-founded a student newspaper that gave voice to conservative viewpoints, and his law degree at Harvard Law School, which he attended on a Truman Scholarship…
Legal ethics and judicial standards seem to be of particular interest to Gorsuch, and, judging by his comments in his speech about Scalia, he takes seriously the fact that judges swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. Gorsuch has also modeled judicial conduct off the bench. For instance, when he gave the 2013 keynote address at the Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention in Washington, Gorsuch did not follow the pattern of past speakers (including sitting judges) by giving a “rabble-rousing speech” in the hopes of advancing their visibility and careers, according to one Federalist Society member. Instead, Gorsuch spoke more dryly about “law’s irony,” which both constrains and guarantees our freedom. When asked about the choice of topics by Richard Samp of the Washington Legal Foundation, Gorsuch said he felt constrained by the code of judicial conduct not to discuss anything controversial.
Hart suggests that Gorsuch is available, open and sociable “because he’s from Colorado.” And Gorsuch does love the state. He’s an avid fly fisher who enjoys being outdoors. With his wife, Louise, Gorsuch raises horses, chickens and goats, and often arranges ski trips with old friends and new associates from his former law firm. However, [Melissa Hart, a law professor at the University of Colorado] adds, she thinks Gorsuch would be willing to move back to Washington, “for the right job.” If Gorsuch does join the bench, she expects she will disagree with many of his rulings, but predicts he has the “smarts and intellectual seriousness” to become a “shaper of the court.”
The nomination is also getting support from unexpected places. Neal Katyal, former Solicitor General under President Obama, said:
Published in Law, Politics“Judge Gorsuch is one of the most thoughtful and brilliant judges to have served our nation over the last century. As a judge, he has always put aside his personal views to serve the rule of law. To boot, as those of us who have worked with him can attest, he is a wonderfully decent and humane person. I strongly support his nomination to the Supreme Court.”
The only way she leaves with Trump in office is feet first. The Progs on the court will hand on like grim death.
No, I don’t think so. Neither Cruz or Walker have leadership skills.
I support Cruz for SCOTUS, but Gorsuch is an even better pick. I don’t know all the contending judges. But I think Cruz is better suited for the Court than for elected office.
Is this the thread where we mock the Never Trumpers?
[Sarcasm On] Principled opposition to Hillary would have been so, so much better. [Sarcasm Off]
Could you tell Mona and Jay? Maybe you can reach them.
But their opposition has nothing to do with “style,” it’s all about “conservative principles,” such as free trade, and Supreme Court justices, and . . . oh, wait.
The man who almost single handedly turned a blue state purple doesn’t have leadership skills?
I shouldn’t be, but the usual suspects just can’t help themselves.
There was actually a rumor going round that when Cruz went to Trump tower after the election, Bannon offered him the seat, to put an originalist on the court and take out a potential 2020 rival. Cruz refused, wanting to stay in the Senate and help pick the slew of court appointments the Senate gets to confirm.
Reposted from the humble pie thread:
I was worried Trump would nominate his sister to the court. Or Peter Thiel. Or Judge Judy.
He didn’t. He’s filling Scalia’s seat with an originalist. Congratulations early Trump adopters, Reluctant Trumpers, Rabble Alliance, Never Hillary folks, et all. Us NeverTrumpers didn’t gain this victory. Y’all did. Thank you.
And now back to pessimism; several things we need to keep in mind:
Republican SC picks have an annoying tendency to trend towards living Constitutionalism, while Democratic SC picks never trend towards originalism. Let’s hope Gorsuch doesn’t.
The Dems might filibuster Gorsuch, and if they do the Republicans will have to use the nuclear option and end debate with 51 votes. This will limit our options next time we’re in the Senate minority. Yes, next time we’re in the minority the Dems will do this anyway. But if we preserve the nuclear option and make the Dems be the ones to end it, when they use it we’ll have one more rhetorical point to try to become the Senate majority again.
Dems are livid about this, and the SC ruling against them generally. When Gorsuch is confirmed, the split will be 4-4-Kennedy from our perspective, and 5-4 Republican from the Dem perspective. If Kennedy dies and Trump replaces him, both sides will see it as 5-4. If the split stays 5-4 and the next Dem President has a Dem Senate, I’m scared we’ll see an originalist justice assassinated. I hope the justices have Secret Service protection, and if they don’t Trump needs to get protection to them before leaving office. Or, better yet, get another Dem Justice to retire, so the split becomes 6-3.
Trump has revealed the progressive left with their pants down. It’s not a pretty sight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GwjfUFyY6M
The 70s were weird.
Agreed – I lived through them, so I know! It prepared me for the present.
“Being a Democrat is never having to say you’re sorry.” Rhetorical points are not accepted in lieu of cash. It may make you feel virtuous but it doesn’t get the job done.
He knows how to win Wisconsin. He didn’t seem to have it on a national scale.
I blame Jeb and his donors.