The Senate confirmation process is underway for President Donald Trump’s pick on Tuesday to fill the nearly year-long Supreme Court vacancy. Federal appeals court Judge Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s nominee, is unknown to most Americans. However, his GOP supporters are peddling him to their political base as a solid conservative who will defend their views on including reproductive rights and federal regulation.
The choice drew immediate howls of protests from Democrats and civil rights leaders, who question his fitness for the job, notes USA Today:
“The Senate must insist upon 60-votes for any Supreme Court nominee, a bar that was met by each of President Obama’s nominees,” said Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “The burden is on Judge Neil Gorsuch to prove himself to be within the legal mainstream and, in this new era, willing to vigorously defend the Constitution from abuses of the executive branch and protect the constitutionally enshrined rights of all Americans.”
“Given his record, I have very serious doubts about Judge Gorsuch’s ability to meet this standard,” Schumer continued. “Judge Gorsuch has repeatedly sided with corporations over working people, demonstrated a hostility toward women’s rights, and most troubling, hewed to an ideological approach to jurisprudence that makes me skeptical that he can be a strong, independent Justice on the Court. Make no mistake, Senate Democrats will not simply allow but require an exhaustive, robust, and comprehensive debate on Judge Gorsuch’s fitness to be a Supreme Court Justice.”
Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Here are five things to know about Gorsuch:
1.He fought against the Obamacare contraception requirement
Perhaps best known, Gorsuch sided with supporters of religious freedom rights in the legal battles of Hobby Lobby and the Little Sisters of the Poor against the requirement for contraception coverage in the Affordable Care Act.
2. Assisted suicide
Gorsuch wrote a book titled The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in which he argues against assisted suicide laws.
3. Federal regulations
One of the reasons conservatives back Gorsuch’s nomination is that he questions longstanding legal precedent that they believe grants government too much regulatory power, according to Politico.
His opinion in an immigration case in August 2016 pleased the right. He argued that judges—not federal agencies—should interpret ambiguous laws.
4. Family roots in government
The judge’s mother, Anne Burford Gorsuch, oversaw the Environmental Protection Agency during Ronald Reagan’s first term. She was pressured to step down over allegations of mismanaging a $1.6 billion toxic waste cleanup program and a pending criminal investigation.
5. Obama connection
Gorsuch attended Harvard Law with former President Barack Obama.
SOURCE: Politico, Fox News, Washington Post, USA Today
SEE ALSO:
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Trump Picks All White Supreme Court Nominees
5 Things To Know About Trump’s Dangerously Conservative Supreme Court Nominee was originally published on newsone.com
