Eleven months ago, Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia unexpectedly passed away, opening up a spot on the nation’s highest court. Scalia’s death, considered a conservative trailblazer threw the Court into an ideological pendulum. In his first month in office, President Donald Trump announced his man to fill the vacant seat: Neil Gorsuch.
“Judge Gorsuch has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline and has earned bipartisan support,” Trump said in a primetime speech from the White House.
Gorsuch is 50 years old and sits on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Colorado. Conservatives praise Gorsuch’s legal writings and his originalist interpretation of the Constitution. The judge was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate after being nominated for his current position by George W. Bush. 
“The qualifications of Judge Gorsuch are beyond dispute,” Trump said. “He is the man of our country and a man who our country really needs and needs badly to ensure the rule of law and the rule of justice.”
With his wife Louise by his side, the judge spoke of the important distinctions between the judicial and legislative branches.
“I consider the United States Senate the greatest deliberative body in the world,” Gorsuch said. “I respect, too, the fact that in our legal order it is for Congress and not the courts to write new laws.”
Now that he has been nominated, Gorsuch will meet with members of Congress  before the Senate holds a confirmation hearing, if they so choose. GOP lawmakers refused to hear President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland last year.
“Make no mistake, Senate Democrats will not simply allow but require an exhaustive, robust, and comprehensive debate on Judge Gorsuch’s fitness to be a Supreme Court Justice,” Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer said.