Pages

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

HE WILL EXCEL ON THE HIGHEST COURT IN THE LAND

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2206

JFK MADE TWO APPOINTMENTS TO THE SUPREME COURT

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) This evening, January 31, 2017, President Donald J. Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch* of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to the United States Supreme Court. 

If confirmed by the Senate, Judge Gorsuch would fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia a year ago next month.  NPR describes Judge Gorsuch as "a solidly conservative judge with a record of strictly interpreting the U.S. Constitution."  

He is described as a proponent of originalism, or the interpretation of the Constitution as the Founding Fathers would and textualism, the literal interpretation of statutes.  At a relatively young age for a Supreme Court justice, 49, Judge Gorsuch could have a long-lasting impact on the Court and the Nation.

President John F. Kennedy made two appointments to the Supreme Court during his less than three years as POTUS.  Both were confirmed.

The first was Arthur J. Goldberg** who has served as JFK's Secretary of Labor 1961-1962.  Justice Goldberg was known for liberal views including standing for the unenumerated right to privacy and against the death penalty.

AJG resigned from the Court in 1965 to become U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.  He was replaced by Abe Fortas.

The second was Byron R. "Whizzer" White***.  President Kennedy said "he has excelled at everything and I know he will excel on the highest court in the land." BRW took a practical approach to the law supporting broad views expanding the power of government, and dissented in the Roe v. Wade decision.


*Neil McGill Gorsuch was born on Aug 29, 1967 in Denver, Colorado.  He earned his BA at Colorado University, JD at Harvard & PhD at University College, Oxford.  His mother, Anne, was head of EPA from 1981 to 1983.

**Arthur J. Goldberg (1908-1990) was born in Chicago, IL.  He graduated from Northwestern University & the Pritzker School of Law at NWU.  AJG was a labor lawyer & served in the OSS during WWII.  AJG served as JFK's Labor Secretary, & was a Justice of the USSC 1962-1965.

***Byron R. "Whizzer" White (1917-2002) was born in Fort Collins, Colorado.  He was a graduate of the University of Colorado & after college played 3 seasons in the NFL.  He then attended Hertford College, Oxford & Yale University.  BRW was in the US Navy in WWII & earned 2 Bronze Stars. He was Colorado chairman of JFK's 1960 presidential campaign. 

SOURCE

"Who is Neil Gorsuch, Trump's First Pick For the Supreme Court," by Carrie Johnson, January 31, 2017, NPR, www.npr.org/



Neil M. Gorsuch
10th US Circuit Court of Appeals