Difference between revisions of "Neil Gorsuch"

Revision as of 06:53, June 27, 2017

Neil Gorsuch

Neil McGill Gorsuch is an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to this, he served as a federal appellate judge. He was nominated by United States President Donald Trump to the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created by the passing of Antonin Scalia.

Gorsuch is pro-choice and told Senator Susan Collins that he would not overturn Roe v. Wade even if there were a 5-4 majority to do so, as reported by Politico:^[1]

When [Gorsuch] met with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) earlier [in February], she pressed him on his views on judicial precedent: If five current justices disagree with a previous Supreme Court decision, is that sufficient grounds to overturn the ruling? Gorsuch said no.

“It’s important to me generally, but it also is important to me because of Roe v. Wade,” Collins, who supports abortion rights, said of asking Gorsuch about precedent. “It’s an important principle.”

David Souter and Anthony Kennedy used the same excuse to perpetuate Roe v. Wade in 1992 in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

Gorsuch is active in an ultra-liberal Episcopalian church whose woman pastor marched against Trump in Washington, D.C. in January. More generally, the Episcopalian church is officially on record as being strongly against pro-life laws.

After Scalia unexpected passed away, Gorsuch began positioning himself for the vacancy by aligning himself with originalism. He supposedly opposes judicial activism as an underhanded method to bring about social change,^[2] but sided with inventing new rights for transgenders under a federal law passed years ago.

Life

Neil Gorsuch was born in Colorado on August 29, 1967, to two lawyers.^[3] He spent increasing time in Washington D. C. as his mother Anne became the first woman to run the EPA.^[4] He went to Columbia University, where he wrote for the Columbia Daily Spectator and co-founded The Federalist Paper, and later attended Harvard Law School.^[5]

The "Frozen Trucker" Case

Judge Gorsuch rendered several opinions after the vacancy arose on the U.S. Supreme Court, perhaps as a way of enhancing his own candidacy. Often for the first time, Gorsuch used language in these opinions to position himself closer to Justice Scalia's philosophy. One of these opinions, a dissent by Gorsuch, occurred in the so-called "frozen trucker" case, TransAm Trucking, Inc. v. Admin. Review Bd., United States DOL, 833 F.3d 1206 (10th Cir. 2016).^[6]

This so-called "frozen trucker" case emerged during Gorsuch's confirmation hearings as an example of his favoring powerful corporations over the "little guy." A trucker whose rig had broken down was stuck in freezing weather and told to remain with his rig until help arrived. After waiting in vain for more than two and a half hours, he unhooked his trailer and drove it to safety, and was fired for disobeying orders.

Gorsuch dissented passionately from a panel decision that upheld an administrative ruling reinstating the employment of the trucker.^[7]

Supreme Court nomination and confirmation

President Trump announcing his nomination of Gorsuch, January 31, 2017.

President Trump looks on as Gorsuch is sworn-in.

On January 31, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.^[8][9] The nomination was well received by many conservatives.^[10][11] Others, however, most notably Andrew Schlafly, disagreed with the nomination due to concerns about Gorsuch's position on abortion.^[12][13] The Senate ultimately confirmed Gorsuch on a vote of 54–45, even though the GOP was forced to initiate the nuclear option and remove the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees due to Democrat obstructionism.^[14]

Tenure on the Court

Immediately into his tenure on the Court, Gorsuch placed himself as one of the most conservative justices.^[15][16] On June 26, 2017, Gorsuch joined a dissenting opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas opposing the Supreme Court's decision to reject hearing two cases in which gun rights groups appealed and which meant that anti-gun and -Second Amendment laws would prevail.^[17][18]

References