Neil Gorsuch

Neil Gorsuch
Name	Neil Gorsuch
Caption	Official portrait, 2017
Office	Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Nominator	Donald Trump
Termstart	April 10, 2017
Predecessor	Antonin Scalia
Office1	Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Termstart1	August 8, 2006
Termend1	April 9, 2017
Nominator1	George W. Bush
Predecessor1	David M. Ebel
Successor1	Allison H. Eid
Birth date	29 August 1967
Birth place	Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Spouse	Louise Burleston, 1996
Education	Columbia University (BA), Harvard University (JD), University College, Oxford (DPhil)

Neil Gorsuch is an American jurist serving as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Appointed by President Donald Trump in 2017, he succeeded the late Antonin Scalia and is considered a textualist and originalist in his judicial philosophy. His tenure has been marked by significant opinions on religious liberty, administrative law, and criminal justice.

Early life and education

He was born in Denver, Colorado, to Anne Gorsuch Burford, who later served as the first female administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Ronald Reagan. He spent part of his youth in Washington, D.C., before attending Georgetown Preparatory School in North Bethesda, Maryland. For his undergraduate studies, he enrolled at Columbia University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and was a co-founder of the newspaper The Federalist. He then earned a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where he was a classmate of future President Barack Obama, and later received a Doctor of Philosophy in law from University College, Oxford as a Marshall Scholar.

Legal career

After completing his education, he served as a law clerk for Judge David B. Sentelle of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He then clerked for two U.S. Supreme Court justices, first for Byron White and then for Anthony Kennedy. Following his clerkships, he entered private practice at the law firm Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick in Washington, D.C.. From 2005 to 2006, he served as the Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice under the administration of President George W. Bush.

U.S. Court of Appeals (2006–2017)

In 2006, he was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, based in Denver. His nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate by voice vote. During his decade on the appellate court, he authored nearly 200 opinions, developing a reputation for clear, often literary writing and a commitment to textualism. His rulings often addressed issues of administrative law, religious freedom under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and habeas corpus petitions.

U.S. Supreme Court (2017–present)

Following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in 2016, his seat remained vacant for over a year due to a political impasse between President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. On January 31, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated him to the Supreme Court of the United States. After a contentious confirmation process that included a successful invocation of the "nuclear option" to overcome a filibuster, he was confirmed by the Senate in a 54–45 vote and took the judicial oath on April 10, 2017.

Judicial philosophy and notable opinions

He is a proponent of textualism in statutory interpretation and originalism in constitutional interpretation, philosophies closely associated with his predecessor, Antonin Scalia. Notable majority opinions include *Bostock v. Clayton County* (2020), where he wrote that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and *McGirt v. Oklahoma* (2020), which affirmed Native American treaty rights regarding Muscogee (Creek) Nation reservation lands. He has also authored significant concurrences and dissents in cases involving the Administrative State, such as *Gundy v. United States*, and religious liberty, such as *Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission*.

Personal life

He married Louise Burleston in 1996, and they have two daughters. The family divides their time between Washington, D.C., and a vacation home in Granby, Colorado, where he is an avid outdoorsman, enjoying skiing and fly-fishing. He is the author of a book, *The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia*, based on his Oxford thesis, and has taught as a visiting professor at the University of Colorado Law School.

Category:Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States Category:American textualists Category:21st-century American judges