Gorsuch sworn in as court tilts right
NEIL GORSUCH was sworn in Monday as the newest Supreme Court justice — bringing to an end an unprecedented 14-month vacancy on the bench and ushering in a new five-judge conservative majority.
In a morning ceremony in the White House’s Rose Garden, President Trump, who nominated Gorsuch, 49, to the vacancy created after Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, touted his selection as a “devoted servant of the law” who would be “deeply faithful to the Constitution of the United States.”
“I have no doubt you will rise to the occasion, that the decisions you will make will not only protect our Constitution today, but for many generations of Americans to come,” Trump said.
Gorsuch was then administered an oath by Justice Anthony Kennedy — for whom he clerked as a young attorney — and expressed gratitude, in his own brief speech, to his family and Trump.
“To the American people, I am humbled by the trust placed in me today,” Gorsuch said.
Earlier, Gorsuch took a separate oath at the Supreme Court itself — a private affair attended only by his family and his new colleagues on the bench.
The ceremonies formally brought to an end a weekslong and bruising fight that saw Republicans change the rules for approving Supreme Court picks.
The seating of Gorsuch — confirmed Friday after Senate Republicans enacted the so-called “nuclear option” to overcome a filibuster by Democrats — also puts nine members back on the high court for the first time since February 2016.
Scalia’s seat had been empty since his death. Former President Barack Obama had nominated Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, for the role weeks later. Senate Republicans refused to give him a confirmation hearing, in
hopes of their party taking back the White House. The gamble paid off when Trump won the presidency.
Trump didn’t waste any time trying to remake the court, a promise he made repeatedly during his campaign. The nomination of Gorsuch, who was recommended by the conservative Heritage Foundation, was announced just days after Trump’s inauguration.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer explained that Trump’s decision to strike the Syrian regime was actually “the greatest thing you can do” to ease the burgeoning refugee crisis.
“By us taking action and deescalating what’s going on in Syria, that’s the greatest thing you can do to support those people,” he said at his daily press briefing when asked how the administration could reconcile its hard line against allowing in Syrian refugees fleeing their nation with the decision to conduct air strikes.
“Deescalating the conflict there, containing ISIS, is the greatest aspect of humanitarian relief that we can provide, first