WASHINGTON, D.C. — After a lengthy procedural battle, The U.S. Senate finally confirmed Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court on Friday by a vote of 54-45. President Donald Trump’s nominee will fill the ninth seat on the court which has been vacated since Justice Antonin Scalia passed away last February.
The Senate’s vote was mostly along party lines. However, three Democrats crossed the aisle to support the confirmation of an eminently qualified judicial nominee.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said “Judge Gorsuch is one of the most qualified nominees that I have seen while serving in the United States Senate. His background, credentials, and commitment to the Constitution speak for themselves.”
Alabama’s junior senator, Luther Strange (R-Ala.), noted that Gorsuch’s selection and confirmation to the Supreme Court came from a direct democratic mandate of the people. “For so many Americans, casting a vote last November for Donald Trump meant restoring faith in the federal judiciary,” Strange said. “Alabamians want a high court that respects and affirms the rule of law, and because of today’s historic vote, that is what they are getting. I was proud to cast my vote to confirm Neil Gorsuch and help the President deliver on this important promise.”
Shelby and Strange’s colleagues across the hill had rave review’s for Gorsuch’s confirmation. Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL1) said that Gorsuch is the perfect replacement for the late Justice Scalia. “I applaud the Senate for confirming him to serve on our nation’s highest court,” Byrne said. “Judge Gorsuch has distinguished himself as a thoughtful and balanced jurist who understands it is not the job of the courts to write laws but rather to interpret the law as written. Our nation will be better off with him on the Supreme Court.”
Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL2) similarly applauded the confirmation of the latest Supreme Court Justice. “I believe our country will benefit from the new energy and experience that Justice Gorsuch will bring to the bench,” Roby said. “Throughout the confirmation process, Justice Gorsuch proved himself to be a highly capable individual who is supremely qualified for this great responsibility. I believe his stated commitment to interpreting the Constitution as it was written will hasten a long overdue return to the separation of powers and rule of law in this country.”
In addition to supporting the president’s selection, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL5) reiterated his support of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) use of the nuclear option to break the Democratic filibuster. “I support the Senate’s use of the Democrat Harry Reid precedent to ensure Gorsuch’s confirmation,” Brooks said. “Despite failed partisan attempts and political theater aimed to paint Gorsuch as an ideologue who will rule based on personal beliefs, Gorsuch has consistently demonstrated his commitment and record of ruling on issues before his court based on rational interpretation of the original intent of the Constitution or law, regardless of his personal opinions. I am certain Neil Gorsuch will honor the legacy of Justice Antonin Scalia.”
The Alabama Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, noted that Gorsuch’s confirmation will help reverse trends of liberal activism on the high court. “As he endured over twenty hours of questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gorsuch demonstrated his ability to rise above politics and uphold the law of the United States,” API said in a statement. “His record on the bench shows that he will adhere to the law and the Constitution, as a thoughtful and responsible jurist.”
Before his nomination, Gorsuch served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He graduated from undergrad with a degree from Columbia University, and he received his law degree from Harvard. His experience with the nation’s highest court goes back decades, as he clerked under two associate justices: Byron White and Anthony Kennedy.
Legal scholars agree that Gorsuch’s judicial philosophy is in the same vein as Antonin Scalia. Like Scalia, Trump’s nominee is a textualist who interprets the plain meaning of the law. He also believes the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted in the context that it was understood at the time of its adoption. In 2016, he wrote of his judicial philosophy:
Judges should instead strive (if humanly and so imperfectly) to apply the law as it is, focusing backward, not forward, and looking to text, structure, and history to decide what a reasonable reader at the time of the events in question would have understood the law to be — not to decide cases based on their own moral convictions or the policy consequences they believe might serve society best.
Gorsuch’s nomination is possible due to Republican obstruction of President Barack Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland.
