Gorsuch takes the oath for Supreme Court seat
Justice Anthony Kennedy swears in his former law clerk.
Nearly 14 months after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the jurist restores the court’s narrow conservative majority.
Justice Neil Gorsuch took his place in history Monday as the newest addition on the bench of the Supreme Court, restoring a narrow conservative majority and marking a muchneeded political victory for President Donald Trump.
Gorsuch was sworn in during a sun-soaked ceremony in the Rose Garden, nearly 14 months after the seat was left vacant with the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The oath was administered during the White House ceremony by Justice Anthony Kennedy, whom Gorsuch once served as a law clerk. A smil- ing Trump stood behind his nominee.
It was the second of two oaths — the first was con- ducted privately in the Justices’ Conference Room by Chief Justice John Roberts.
“To the Scalia family, I won’t ever forget that the seat I inherit today is that of a very, very great man,” Gorsuch said to the audience of family and administration staffers, as well as all the sit- ting Supreme Court justices.
“I will do all my powers permit to be a faithful ser- vant of the Constitution and laws of this great nation,” he said.
Gorsuch joins the court that is often the final arbiter for presidential policy.
Speaking ahead of Gorsuch at the ceremony, Trump said that “our country is counting on you to be wise, impartial and fair, to serve under our laws, not over them, and to safeguard the right of the people to govern their own affairs,” hinting at his own friction with the judiciary.
Gorsuch’s confirmation was a badly needed boost for an administration riddled with controversy and misstep.