Donald Trump names conservative judge Neil Gorsuch as US Supreme Court pick
Updated
President Donald Trump has nominated Neil Gorsuch for a lifetime job on the US Supreme Court, picking the 49-year-old federal appeals court judge to restore the court's conservative majority and help shape rulings on divisive issues such as abortion, gun control, the death penalty and religious rights.
The Colorado native faces a potentially contentious confirmation battle in the US Senate after Republicans last year refused to consider Democratic president Barack Obama's nominee to fill the vacancy caused by the February 2016 death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia.
Judge Gorsuch is the youngest nominee to the nation's highest court in more than 25 years and could influence the direction of the court for decades.
Announcing the selection at the White House flanked by the judge and his wife, Mr Trump said Judge Gorsuch's resume was "as good as it gets".
Mr Trump said he hopes Republicans and Democrats can come together on the nomination for the good of the country.
"Judge Gorsuch has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline and has earned bipartisan support," Mr Trump said.
"Depending on their age, a justice can be active for 50 years.
"And his or her decisions can last a century or more, and can often be permanent."
Judge Gorsuch is a judge on the Denver-based 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals and was appointed to that post by former Republican president George W Bush in 2006.
Some Democrats in the US Senate, which votes on whether to confirm judicial nominees, have already said they would seek to block whoever Mr Trump nominates.
Judge Gorsuch is considered a conservative intellectual, known for backing religious rights, and is seen as very much in the mould of Scalia, a leading conservative voice on the court for decades.
'He plays it straight'
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the choice of Judge Gorsuch was seen by the White House as a significant departure from Supreme Court nominations from the recent past, given that many justices have come from the eastern United States.
Judge Gorsuch lives in Boulder, Colorado, where he raises horses and is a life-long outdoorsman.
The official described Mr Gorsuch as a mainstream judge who should easily be confirmed by the Senate.
The official noted that the Senate confirmed him for his current judgeship in 2006 by voice vote with no one voting against him.
"He plays it straight. He sticks to principles, and his opinions reflect a consistency regardless of who is in his courtroom," the official said of Judge Gorsuch.
Mr Trump made his choice between two US appeals court judges, Judge Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman of the Philadelphia-based 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals, according to a source involved in the selection process.
Judge Gorsuch became the youngest US Supreme Court nominee since Republican President George HW Bush in 1991 selected conservative Clarence Thomas, who was 43 at the time.
Reuters
Topics: donald-trump, courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, us-elections, world-politics, government-and-politics, united-states
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