Neil Gorsuch

Neil Gorsuch
Official portrait of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch
Official portrait, 2017
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Assumed office
April 10, 2017
Appointed byDonald Trump
Preceded byAntonin Scalia
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
In office
August 8, 2006 – April 9, 2017
Appointed byGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byDavid M. Ebel
Succeeded byAllison H. Eid
Principal Deputy Associate
Attorney General
In office
June 2005 – July 2006
Attorney GeneralJohn Ashcroft
Personal details
Born
Neil McGill Gorsuch

(1967-08-29) August 29, 1967 (age 56)
Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Political partyRepublican[1]
Spouse
Louise Burleston
(m. 1996)
Education
SignatureCursive signature in ink
Academic background
ThesisThe Right to Receive Assistance in Suicide and Euthanasia (2004)
Doctoral advisorJohn Finnis
Other advisorsTimothy Endicott
Academic work
DisciplineLegal philosophy
Notable worksThe Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (2006)

Neil McGill Gorsuch (/ˈɡɔːrsʌ/ GOR-sutch;[2] born August 29, 1967) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on January 31, 2017, and has served since April 10, 2017.

Gorsuch spent his early life in Denver, Colorado, then lived in Bethesda, Maryland, while attending Georgetown Preparatory School. Upon graduating, he matriculated at Columbia University, where he became an established writer. Gorsuch received his legal education at Harvard Law School and in 2004, after 10 years as a practicing attorney, obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in jurisprudence from the University of Oxford on a Marshall Scholarship. His doctoral thesis concerned the morality of assisted suicide and was written under the supervision of legal philosopher John Finnis.

From 1995 to 2005, Gorsuch was in private practice with the law firm of Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick. He was the principal deputy associate attorney general at the United States Department of Justice from 2005 until his appointment to the Tenth Circuit. President George W. Bush nominated Gorsuch to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on May 10, 2006, to replace Judge David M. Ebel, who achieved senior status that same year.

Gorsuch is a proponent of textualism in statutory interpretation and originalism in interpreting the United States Constitution.[3][4][5] Along with Justice Clarence Thomas, he is an advocate of natural law jurisprudence.[6] Gorsuch clerked for Judge David B. Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1991 to 1992 and U.S. Supreme Court justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy from 1993 to 1994. He is the first Supreme Court justice to serve alongside a justice for whom he once clerked (Kennedy).[7] During his tenure on the Supreme Court he has written the majority opinion in landmark cases such as Bostock v. Clayton County on LGBT rights, McGirt v. Oklahoma on Native American law, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District on personal religious observance, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis on free speech, and Ramos v. Louisiana on juries' guilty verdicts.

  1. ^ Roth, Gabe (February 3, 2020). "Why Are Supreme Court Justices Registered as Democrats and Republicans?". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  2. ^ "How to pronounce Gorsuch". The Washington Post. March 22, 2017. Archived from the original on April 4, 2017. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference 3judges was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference contender was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference scalia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Kelleher, J. Paul (March 20, 2017). "Neil Gorsuch's "natural law" philosophy is a long way from Justice Scalia's originalism". Vox. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  7. ^ Livni, Ephrat (April 7, 2017). "Neil Gorsuch is the first US Supreme Court justice to sit on the bench with his high-court boss". Quartz. Retrieved August 16, 2017.