Tonight, President Donald Trump announced 10th Circuit Judge Neil Gorsuch as his choice to fill the vacancy on the United States Supreme Court.
The 49-year-old Gorsuch has served on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver since 2006, after being appointed by President George W. Bush. He once worked at the Supreme Court as a law clerk.
If approved by the Senate, Gorsuch would take the seat left vacant since Justice Antonin Scalia died last year. Republicans refused to consider President Barack Obama’s nominee for the seat, saying the choice should go Obama’s successor.
He would be the youngest justice since Clarence Thomas joined the court in 1991 at age 43.
Trump made the announcement Tuesday in a prime-time address from the White House.
Trump had narrowed down his previous list of 21 possible choices made public during his presidential campaign to a group of three finalists: Gorsuch, Thomas Hardiman, and Mobile-native Bill Pryor.