President Donald Trump Announces Supreme Court Pick

“They are rarely a pleasure to read, but Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, has elevated them to a form of wry nonfiction”.

That vacant seat on the Supreme Court may be no more after President Donald Trump’s [70] big reveal in prime time on January 31.

Gorsuch was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in 2006 by President George W. Bush and is well-liked by conservative jurists.

Gorsuch, 49, is on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of numerous most sensitive issues of American life and law. A do-or-die fight over Trump’s first nominee could backfire disastrously.

“If Judge Gorsuch is confirmed, the court will return to a familiar dynamic… he shares Justice Scalia’s legal philosophy, talent for vivid writing and love for outdoors”, The New York Times writes.

But other Democrats want to “play nice” on this nomination as it is “like for like” – conservative Gorsuch replacing conservative Scalia – it doesn’t change the balance of power.

Republicans would cry foul over a concerted effort to block Judge Gorsuch’s confirmation, but it was the Republicans who blocked Barack Obama’s nomination for the seat until Mr Obama left office.

The US president named the conservative Neil Gorsuch on Tuesday night to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia almost a year ago. “Judge Garland, a former federal prosecutor and 20-year veteran of the nation’s most important federal appeals court, is both more moderate and more qualified than Judge Gorsuch”.

Gorsuch also sided with religious organizations in Hobby Lobby v.

Senate experts note that the filibuster is not enshrined in the Constitution and filibustering nominees is a relatively recent phenomenon. There will be 60 votes for confirmation. Although Republicans now have a majority in the Senate (52-46 with two Democratic supporting Independents), Democrats are said to be considering a filibuster, which would require a 2/3rds majority (60 votes in the 100-member Senate) to override.

The Supreme Court was exempted at the time as part of a deal bringing along Democrats reluctant to change the rules. Here’s where each stands on issues of reproductive rights.

Birth control: Judge Gorsuch has supported religious institutions which objected to requirements for employers to provide access to contraception.

In one of those cases, Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby Stores, he wrote of the need for USA courts to give broad latitude to religious beliefs. “When you consider what Trump might have put onto the high court, given his majority in the Senate, Gorsuch is a very pleasant surprise”.

It hears fewer than 100 cases a year and the key announcements are made in June. Lee’s spokesman Conn Carroll, “so unless President Trump pulls a last-minute change, we won’t be the pick”.

So now we just have to see how this goes, but don’t get too excited about the idea that this thing will get resolved quickly.