IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn
By
WASHINGTON (CNS) — President Donald Trump nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the seat on the U.S. Supreme Court that has been empty since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia
last February.
Gorsuch is a man the country
needs, Trump said in announcing his nominee the evening of Jan. 31. He added that his pick for the high court already has had bipartisan support.
When Trump announced his choice at the White House, in the audience was Maureen McCarthy Scalia, the widow of the late justice. One of the
couple’s children also was present: Father Paul Scalia, a priest of the Diocese
of Arlington, Virginia.
In his remarks, Gorsuch said he was thankful for
friends, family and faith giving him balance. He also said he was honored and
humbled to be chosen as a nominee to the nation’s highest court. He described Scalia as
“lion of the law” and said he misses him.
Gorsuch,
judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, is 49, making him the youngest
Supreme Court nominee in 25 years. He was born in Denver. He currently lives outside of Boulder,
Colorado, with his wife and two daughters, he lived in the Washington area as a
teenager when his mother, Anne Gorsuch Burford, was appointed by President Ronald
Reagan to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Gorsuch attended the
Jesuit-run Georgetown Preparatory School where he won a national debate
championship.
Gorsuch
has the typical qualifications of a high court justice. He graduated from
Columbia, Harvard and Oxford, clerked for two Supreme Court justices and also
worked for the Department of Justice.
He
also is an adjunct law professor at the University of Colorado and he wrote a 2009
book arguing against the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Gorsuch
hasn’t written a ruling specifically on abortion but he has strong views on
religious liberty. He sided with the Little Sisters of the Poor in their
challenge of the contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act. And in Hobby
Lobby Stores v. Sebelius, in June 2013, the 10th Circuit ordered the federal
government to stop enforcement of the federal mandate against Hobby Lobby, the
Oklahoma-based Christian chain of retail arts and crafts stores. In his
concurrence, Gorsuch said the contraception mandate substantially burdened the
company’s religious exercise — a decision the Supreme Court later upheld.
Gorsuch is an Episcopalian. Scalia, who had been one of six Catholic
members of the court, was often described as its most conservative voice and
known for his strict interpretation of the Constitution’s intent.
– – –
Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.
