Gorsuch a man of decency, moral seriousness and respect

Ifirst met Neil Gorsuch soon after he was appointed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

I was fresh out of law school, working as a clerk for Judge Carlos Lucero, another member of the court with chambers in Denver. It was immediately apparent to me that Judge Gorsuch possessed an unusually fine legal mind.

Over the course of the year, after a mutual friend put us in touch, I came to know him personally. We met at the Caribou Coffee down the block from the courthouse, or in his chambers, or occasionally at his house. Five years later I began dating one of his former clerks, whom he had the good sense to hire, and I had the good sense to marry. That he was willing to take so much time to mentor a clerk for another judge was unusual. That he did so for many, many other young lawyers (while volunteering his time in other ways) puts him in a distinct minority.

Like so many other Democrats, I was deeply disturbed by the Senate’s treatment of Merrick Garland. The cynical and corrosive conduct of Senate Republicans has scarred the judicial confirmation process for years to come, and robbed the Supreme Court of a superb jurist. Many Democrats have advocated curing like-with-like, notably Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who made a fine case for forcing U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to “go nuclear” and proceed to confirmation with a simple majority of votes.

I see that as a mistake. We should endorse a confirmation system anchored in the acumen and moral character of the nominee. Gorsuch meets that test with room to spare. His talents put him among the few dozen greatest lawyers of his generation. His character is superb. By that I do not mean that Gorsuch is a “nice guy.” As they say, you can fill Coors Field with nice guys. What I mean is that Gorsuch has a decency, moral seriousness, and bedrock respect for others that will serve our country well. If you are holding out hope that he is the next David Souter, you will be disappointed. In his adherence to conservative jurisprudence, he is a natural inheritor of the legacy of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Whereas Scalia’s acid pen sometimes alienated his colleagues, Gorsuch is warm and courteous to the 10th Circuit bench, a trait I predict he will bring to the Supreme Court.

But I confess I’m puzzled by the fear that Gorsuch will roll over for this president or the next one. Every federal judge I’ve crossed paths with has been eager to assert his or her independence from the executive branch, and to protect the prerogatives of the judiciary. Law clerks facing an ultimatum from their boss sometimes joke about the “Article III” mindset and its disinterest in accommodation.

The Judge Gorsuch I know is a keen backer of judicial independence, who has remarked that “judges are not politicians in robes.” We need a nominee with the moral character to protect the rule of law and stand up to Congress and the president when appropriate. In Gorsuch, we have a nominee who, long before he was thrust into the public eye, spoke often of an independent judiciary that must make “decisions on the legal merits without respect to the vagaries of shifting political winds.”

I note finally that Coloradans should not discount the value in elevating a judge who has heard dozens of cases involving water and mineral rights, as well as appeals from Native American territories. The Supreme Court has been without a Westerner for more than a decade, to its detriment.

If Democrats adopt the same scorched-earth tactics deployed by Senate Republicans, we invite a federal bench crammed with political hacks. By those rules, a judge’s character and temperament are irrelevant. That would be a sad day, if for no other reason than because our judiciary is arguably the only branch of the federal government that is currently functioning as intended. Gorsuch is an exceptionally fine lawyer of good moral character, and on that basis he should be confirmed.