Here’s a Little Information About President Trump’s Supreme Court Pick
This week President Trump nominated Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Here is a little about Judge Gorsuch and some noteworthy opinions he has issued:
- He is a graduate of Harvard Law School.
- He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Law from Oxford University.
- He clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy.
- Justice White is noteworthy for dissenting in the Roe v. Wade abortion decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Justice Kennedy is noteworthy for writing the Planned Parenthood v. Casey abortion decision and the 2015 Obergefell decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
- This matters, because some people believe looking at who an attorney clerked for after law school is one way to gauge his or her judicial philosophy.
- President George W. Bush nominated him to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006. He was confirmed on a voice vote by the U.S. Senate, because his nomination was not deemed controversial.
- As a federal judge, Neil Gorsuch has issued opinions in favor of religious liberty in lawsuits like the Hobby Lobby case.
- In 2007 he wrote a dissenting opinion in the Pleasant Grove City v. Summum case. In it he argued it was constitutional for a city to display a donated monument of the Ten Commandments on public property without displaying other monuments. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed.
- In 2009 he authored the book The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, in which he analyzed the arguments in favor of euthanasia and assisted suicide, but ultimately provided strong arguments against these practices.
The Republican National Committee is reworking its platform ahead of the Republican convention, and a few interesting planks are emerging in the draft platform.