WASHINGTON – Eighty percent of the powerful evangelical voting bloc and a majority of the nation's Catholics chose Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. A vast majority indicated their central concern was who would fill the Court's vacant ninth seat left by the sudden death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.
Tuesday night, responses both for and against Trump's pick began pouring in. How would those that voted for Trump in November respond to his pick?
The president of the conservative legal group Judicial Watch Tom Fitton issued the following statement in response to President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States:
President Trump’s nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court is a victory for Americans who are fed up with corrupt judicial activism. The judicial branch needs as much draining as the rest of the federal government swamp. President Trump avoided the temptation to nominate yet another politician to the Supreme Court. It is good we have a nominee who has a demonstrated record of applying the rule of law rather than legislating from the bench. The U.S. Senate should swiftly confirm him.
Tom Fitton told Newsweek that Judge Gorsuch fits the Scalia mold:
I think conservatives would consider him to be an exciting pick. I think it’s fair to say he’s a leader in terms of conservative jurisprudence and I think he quickly would become a strong voice on the court for his constitutional approach to decision making.
The pro-life group Created Equal said preliminary exam showed Gorsuch making decisions that leaned towards protecting human life:
- Gorsuch forcefully dissented from a case in which the Tenth Circuit sided with Planned Parenthood and refused to allow the Governor of Utah to defund the abortion business in wake of videos showing its involvement in the selling of baby body parts.
- Gorsuch wrote a book called "The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia." He argues in the book that "human life is fundamentally and inherently valuable" and that "the intentional taking of human life by private persons is always wrong."
But the group remains hesitant about endorsing the Gorsuch pick.
"President Reagan gave us Justice Kennedy. George H.W. Bush gave us Justice Souter. George W. Bush gave us Justice Roberts. Gorsuch requires extreme vetting. We can't get this one wrong. We have no margin of error," Mark Harrington, National Director of the group said in a statement.
"Judge Gorsuch's answer to the inevitable question about the constitutionality of Roe v. Wade will determine our support. Getting it wrong condemns millions of preborn children to death. This time around, we will trust but verify."
More to come …
