What happens on college campuses often depends on what men and women in black robes decide. So anyone with a stake in higher education had good reason to tune in on Tuesday night and see who President Trump would choose to fill the U.S. Supreme Court’s long-empty seat. The answer: Neil M. Gorsuch, a conservative federal appellate judge who, if confirmed by the Senate, just might help shape academe for decades to come.
During a prime-time news conference, President Trump announced Judge Gorsuch, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Denver, as his choice to replace Antonin Scalia, who died last February. Mr. Trump said his nominee possesses "outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, and tremendous discipline."
Far from a maverick pick, Judge Gorsuch, 49, has a pedigree similar to that of the sitting justices. He graduated from Columbia University in 1988 before earning law degrees from Harvard University and the University of Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar. Since 2008 he has taught ethics and antitrust law at the University of Colorado Law School.
As described by one legal expert, he is known as a keen thinker who writes compelling opinions "with a flair that matches — or at least evokes" — that of Justice Scalia. Recently, researchers attempted to measure the "Scalia-ness" of likely nominees; Judge Gorsuch, who believes in an "originalist" interpretation of the Constitution, topped the list.
What that might mean for higher education down the line is hard to say.
Read more at The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://www.chronicle.com/article/What-Trump-s-Supreme-Court/239066