Justice Anthony Kennedy, for whom Gorsuch once clerked, administered the judicial oath. Justice Samuel Alito says that when he took over as the court's rookie from Justice Stephen Breyer in 2006, after Breyer had been the court's junior member for more than a decade, Breyer still leapt up the first time someone interrupted the justices' private conference with a knock. All the current justices were in attendance, along with most of their spouses.
Gorsuch on Monday alluded to the intensity of the battle, as he thanked the many White House and Justice Department officials who "worked through so many late nights and long weeks" to get him confirmed.
Donald Trump yesterday appeared to be in his element during a White House ceremony for the swearing in of his Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch, the conservative judge whose pivotal appointment has been welcomed by traditionalist Christians.
Other petitions to the high court include gun and voting rights.
In perhaps the most notorious opinion of his judicial career, the so-called "frozen trucker" case, Gorsuch dissented against a majority decision supporting the right of a truck driver, caught in an unexpected blizzard, to disconnect his load and drive his rig to shelter.
Mr Gorsuch, a former Denver appeals judge, was confirmed 54-45 on Friday after Senate Republicans took the historic step of changing the chamber's rules in order to ram through their pick. The nuclear option eliminates the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees and is essentially a re-interpretation of the Senate's rules. The committee advanced his nomination (11-9) on Monday, April 3, and McConnell moved immediately the following day to end floor debate on his nomination.
Gorsuch filled a vacancy that had lingered for almost 14 months after conservative Justice Antonin Scalia's February 2016 death. He blocked a confirmation hearing for Obama's nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, preserving the vacancy and giving conservative voters another reason to side with Trump in last year's election.
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Both Trump and Gorsuch, in their remarks, noted the historical nature of Kennedy swearing-in his former law clerk.
CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett and CBS News justice correspondent Jan Crawford discuss the impact Justice Neil Gorsuch wi...
Based on his past, Gorsuch is seen as a jurist in the mold of Scalia, a constitutional originalist who strongly supports the view that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms.
-Gorsuch joins the ranks of justices who are millionaires. Those could include cases ranging from a fair housing dispute in Miami to a cross-border shooting on the Mexican border in Arizona. Trinity Lutheran Church is suing against the exclusion of church-affiliated schools from a state program to fund safety materials for playgrounds. The oral argument has been delayed for months, signifying a likely deadlock among the eight justices.
The Supreme Court still has 13 cases it will hear this term, including a significant religious liberty case looming next week.
Kennedy, 80, often a swing vote on the court, presided, a reminder that Gorsuch's ascendance may not be this president's final chance to influence the direction of the high court.
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