Trump’s Supreme Court Pick: Religious Freedom Defender Neil Gorsuch

Scholarly Denver judge who ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby would fill Scalia’s seat.
by Kate Shellnutt
1/31/2017

President Donald Trump named Neil Gorsuch, a conservative, Ivy League-educated federal judge known for his way with words and defenses of religious freedom, as his Supreme Court nominee during a live broadcast Tuesday night.

 

A favorite pick among Christian conservatives, Gorsuch fulfills Trump’s promise to select a judge that evangelicals will “love” and who also stands a solid chance of scoring Senate approval. (Gorsuch’s federal appointment by President George W. Bush in 2006 was uncontroversial.)

 

“Judge Gorsuch’s combination of intellectual horsepower and work ethic has enabled him to excel academically at the world’s best universities, become a first-rate lawyer and judge, and develop remarkable verbal abilities,” said Robert Pushaw, a constitutional law expert and professor at Pepperdine University School of Law.

 

Hours before the president’s announcement, Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission president Russell Moore tweeted that he hoped Trump would select the Denver judge, calling him “brilliant and sound.”...  the rest