Trump Nominates Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, selecting a young jurist well-regarded in conservative legal circles as his pick to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.A Denver native, Gorsuch was appointed by President George W. Bush to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006 after serving in Bush’s Justice Department.No stranger to the Supreme Court, Gorsuch clerked for Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy. He would be the first former law clerk to serve on the court alongside his or her old boss if confirmed.A friend of Scalia’s, Gorsuch called the late justice a “lion of the law” when he died in 2016 and he has articulated a similarly strict interpretation of the meaning of the Constitution. Gorsuch has become known in legal circles for the rhetorical flourishes in his judicial opinions, a characteristic that was also frequently attributed to Scalia.At 49, Gorsuch would be among the youngest justices in the court’s history -- another point sure to please conservatives that hope to leave a lasting impact on the court.Gorsuch beat out 20 other contenders that Trump had listed as potential nominees during the campaign, including Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett.In the final days, Trump had reportedly whittled down his short-list to two candidates: Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman, a judge on another appellate court. Both judges were summoned to Washington on Tuesday, adding an element of game-show-like suspense to Trump’s decision.If confirmed, Gorsuch -- a graduate of Harvard Law School -- would extend a long streak of jurists from Ivy League law schools on the court. Every current Supreme Court justice went to either Harvard or Yale, as has been the case since Northwestern-educated Justice John Paul Stevens retired in 2010.Gorsuch is now set to face a political gauntlet as the Senate prepares to consider his nomination for approval.After Senate Republicans stonewalled President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court until it expired at the end of Obama’s term, some Senate Democrats are already suggesting that they will return the favor by throwing up any and all roadblocks to Trump’s choice.Sen. Ted Cruz has responded that Republicans will leave “all procedural options on the table” to ensure the nominee is confirmed, including the “nuclear option” of changing the Senate’s filibuster rules.  Continue reading...

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