Trump nominates 'brilliant' Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court - making him the youngest candidate in 25 years and firing the starting gun on a bitter battle with the Democrats
President Donald Trump announced his selection of Gorsuch, 49, to fill the vacancy created by the death last year of Justice Antonin Scalia
Gorsuch is an Appeals Court judge on the 10th Circuit in Denver
Trump hailed his qualifications as 'beyond dispute'
The president announced the decision after a reality TV-style announcement, where two final candidates were under consideration
Losing out was Judge Thomas Hardiman of Pittsburgh, who also was summoned to Washington
Democratic leader Sen. Charles Schumer vowed to oppose a pick 'tooth and nail' that wasn't part of the 'mainstream'
President Obama's pick to replace Scalia, Judge Merrick Garland, never got a hearing or a vote from Republicans who control the Senate
By Francesca Chambers, White House Correspondent and Geoff Earle, Deputy U.s. Political Editor For Dailymail.com and Nikki Schwab, U.s. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com
President Donald Trump has announced his choice of Neil Gorsuch, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit judge with conservative and Ivy League credentials, to the Supreme Court.
If confirmed by the bitterly-divided Senate, Gorsuch will fill the vacancy created by the February 2016 death of Antonin Scalia.
Trump said Gorsuch's qualifications are 'beyond dispute' as he introduced him to the nation from the White House's East Room on Tuesday night in a primetime event.
The president said Gorsuch was 'among the finest and the most brilliant' judges. And he called Gorsuch's academic credentials – Columbia University, Harvard Law, and Oxford University – 'as good as I have ever seen.'
'When he was nominated to the 10th Circuit court of appeals, he was confirmed by the Senate unanimously,' Trump said. 'Unanimously. Can you believe that nowadays with what’s going on? Does that happen anymore? Does it happen? I think it’s going to happen, maybe again.'
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President Donald Trump announced his appointment tonight of Neil Gorsuch, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit judge, to the Supreme Court
Trump announces Judge Neil Gorsuch as nominee to Supreme Court
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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said anyone Trump appoints must be 'mainstream'
Such a vote would be unthinkable in the current environment, with Democrats already digging in against Trump's agenda as the new president inks a series of executive orders.
Republicans many not even be able to rally the eight Democrats they need to cross party lines in order to prevent the filibuster some lawmakers have already vowed.
The GOP held up President Barack Obama's court pick for months. Senate Democratic leaders indicated Tuesday evening that they would make the nomination process for Gorsuch as difficult as possible.
'The Senate must insist upon 60 votes for any Supreme Court nominee, a bar that was met by each of President Obama's nominees,' said Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer of New York, essentially promising a filibuster.
If Democrats insist on obstructing Gorsuch, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell could go 'nuclear' and reduce the number of votes needed to confirm justices to a simple majority - 51. But some of his Republican colleagues are against the move, preferring to preserve minority rights.
McConnell would be abandoning longstanding Senate rules to ram through the Republican president's agenda - a tactic he chided Democrats for when Obama held the Oval Office.
Republicans in the Senate repeatedly said Tuesday evening at the White House that they didn't think McConnell would ultimately have to entertain that option.
'They're going to have a hard time explaining to the American people why they would obstruct one of the most talented legal minds (in the country),' Cory Gardner, a senator from Gorsuch's home state of Colorado
Schumer and 10 other Democrats who are still in the Senate voted in favor of Gorsuch when George W. Bush nominated him to the 10th Circuit in 2006. The Republican-appointed judge was unanimously approved by voice vote.
'I hope that bodes well for the process,' South Dakota Republican John Thune said Tuesday evening. 'I hope that he'll get a fair consideration in an up and down vote again.'
But Schumer on Tuesday argued that Gorsuch 'has repeatedly sided with corporations over working people, demonstrated a hostility toward women's rights, and most troubling, hewed to an ideological approach to jurisprudence that makes me skeptical that he can be a strong, independent justice on the Court.'
The Senate minority leader had previously committed his caucus to fighting Trump's nominee 'tooth and nail' if the judge fell outside of the 'mainstream.'
Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal told CNN immediately after tonight's announcement that he could oppose Gorsuch on those grounds.
'I have very deep, serious concerns about judge Gorsuch because I do believe that he may be coming to the Court with an agenda that’s out of the mainstream,' the Democrat said.
'And as much as I want to insulate the court from partisan politics, if I conclude that he is out of the mainstream … I will use every tool at my disposal to block his nomination.'
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Neil Gorsuch poses with the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, whose seat he'll be taking on the court, if he's confirmed by the Senate
Underlining his filibuster threat, Blumenthal said: 'All of President Obama's nominees required 60 votes. So should President Trump's.' He called what happened to Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, a 'travesty' and an 'outrage.'
Oregon Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley recalled Republicans' success at blocking Garland on MSNBC Tuesday night and contended, 'This is not a normal consideration.
'This is a seat that was stolen from the former president, Obama, that’s never been done in U.S. history before.'
He added: 'To let this become normal just invites a complete partisan polarization of the court from here to eternity,' and called Gorsuch someone from the 'extreme right.'
Schumer, Sen. Dick Durbin, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking member on the legislative body's judiciary committee skipped Trump's Tuesday roll out event, a possible sign of things to come.
'I don't want to be standing there tonight in the crowd when they pull back the curtain and say here's your nominee,' Durbin said in advance of the event, according to The Hill. 'Let's do this in an orderly fashion.'
Thune, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, said afterward, 'I think there's still obviously a lot of hard feelings among Democrats over the election, but my view is that this is the kind of pick that will be very, very difficult for Democrats to attack.'
Gorsuch 'has the right temperament, he understands the role of the Supreme Court and our system of government,' Thune said, and he has a 'very sharp legal mind.'
Neil Gorsuch thanks Trump for the Supreme Court nomination
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