Neil Gorsuch, a judge within the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, was nominated by President Donald Trump late Tuesday to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
His overall record on cases involving labor issues is considered mixed. “By all accounts, he will be wary of burdening employers with regulation that is contrary to the policies underlying ERISA, but he will not uniformly side with the employer or plan sponsor,” said Nancy Ross, a Chicago-based partner at law firm Mayer Brown.
Some of his appellate court decisions have disagreed with a Supreme Court decision that courts should not second-guess a federal agency's interpretation of law, and disputed that erroneous statements by companies are enough to support securities fraud actions.
Mr. Trump in a statement praised Mr. Gorsuch for “a superb intellect, an unparalleled legal education, and a commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its text.”
A Colorado native, Mr. Gorsuch has clerked for a Washington D.C. circuit judge and for Supreme Court justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy. He served as principal deputy associate attorney general before being appointed by President George W. Bush in 2006 to the 10th circuit position.
