Donald Trump‬, ‪Supreme Court of the United States‬, ‪Neil Gorsuch‬‬

• Neil Gorsuch: Who is Donald Trump's US Supreme Court nominee ?
• President Donald Trump has announced Judge Neil Gorsuch – a staunch conservative – as his nominee for the vacant ninth seat on the supreme court bench.
• Calling Gorsuch “a man who our country really needs, and needs badly, to ensure the rule of law” in the spirit of the late Antonin Scalia, whose seat he would take if confirmed, Trump said his pick would enjoy “tremendous bipartisan support”.
• An “honored and humbled” Gorsuch said judges should strive for “impartiality and independence, collegiality and courage”, adding:

A judge who likes every outcome he reaches is very likely a bad judge.

Donald Trump and Neil Gorsuch at the White House. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EP

Republicans rushed to praise the nomination, with Speaker Paul Ryan calling it a “phenomenal” choice, and vice-president Mike Pence labelling Gorsuch:

one of the most mainstream, respected, and exceptionally qualified supreme court nominees in American history.

• Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said Trump had made an “outstanding decision”, warning:

I hope members of the Senate will … show him fair consideration and respect the result of the recent election with an up-or-down vote on his nomination.

• But in a sign that the Senate could be heading for a filibuster, some Democrats – many of whom were keen to jog memories of the Republican block on Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland – said they would not support Gorsuch.
• Senator Elizabeth Warren said the judge’s rulings against workers and “hostility” towards women’s access to healthcare meant she would not vote for him. Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, called the nomination “a very bad decision”.
• Chuck Schumer, the minority leader in the Senate, said Gorsuch must reach the 60-vote “super-majority” – “a bar that was met by each of President Obama’s nominees” – in a Senate where Republicans hold 52 seats to the Democrats’ 48:

The burden is on Judge Neil Gorsuch to prove himself to be within the legal mainstream … Given his record, I have very serious doubts about Judge Gorsuch’s ability to meet this standard.