Trump nominates Neil Gorsuch to replace Scalia at US Supreme Court
Judge Neil Gorsuch of the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has been nominated by President Donald Trump to take up the vacant ninth position at the Supreme Court.
Trump released a statement on the White House website about his nomination late yesterday, January 31.
Back in May 2006, Gorsuch was nominated by former president George W Bush to take up his current position at the Tenth Circuit.
After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1991, he worked as a law clerk for senior US circuit judge David Sentelle of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Gorsuch has some experience in intellectual property.
In 2008, he handed down a mixed ruling in Meshwerks v Toyota Motor Sales USA, a copyright infringement case which concerned digital wire frames in Toyota’s vehicles.
According to the Law Theories blog, Gorsuch has decided seven trademark, four copyright and three trade secret cases.
“Judge Gorsuch is a brilliant jurist with an outstanding intellect and a clear, incisive writing style. He is universally respected for his integrity, fairness, and decency,” the release from the White House said.
The statement added: “Judge Gorsuch is a ‘judge’s judge’ who decides cases based on the law, not personal policy preferences. He is not afraid to reach results contrary to his own policy views.”
Heather Blaise, founding partner of law firm Blaise & Nitschke, told WIPR: “Neil Gorsuch was a classmate of Barack Obama at Harvard Law. He is known to be intellectually brilliant and very conservative.”
She added that in copyright cases, Gorsuch has never found in favour of the owner, while out of three trade secret cases, he has twice found in favour of the owner.
“Judge Gorsuch’s opinions are extremely well-written, and closely follow the appropriate procedural and substantive law, rejecting invitations to rule on issues not well-preserved,” said Blaise.
In March last year, former president Obama nominated Merrick Garland for the role following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Garland works as chief judge at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
However, at the time, the Republican-held Senate promised to block any appointment of a new justice until the presidential election had concluded.
If Gorsuch’s appointment is finally approved, it should tilt the balance in favour of conservative judges at the Supreme Court, which is roughly divided 4-4 between liberals and conservatives.
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