Who Is Neil Gorsuch?

Donald Trump has announced his nominee to the Supreme Court: Judge Neil Gorsuch of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. What do we make of this nominee?

Let's start with the fact that this Supreme Court seat was stolen from President Obama. Justice Scalia died in February and the Senate Republicans refused to move Obama's nominee Merrick Garland through the confirmation process. President Obama, recognizing the need for unity, selected a moderate judge whom even the Republicans acknowledged was a bipartisan choice. Trump has made no such effort at unity. That fact alone has led many, including Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon to oppose the nominee on principle. Regardless of what one thinks of this view, it does provide important context for this confirmation fight. Judge Garland should be on the Court. 

Judge Gorsuch has been described as Justice Scalia 2.0. That notion alone causes me great distress. Justice Scalia was hostile to citizen enforcement of our environmental laws. He dissented from the majority in Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court case that recognized carbon pollution as a grave threat to the planet. Justice Scalia took a dim view of environmental citizen suits, even suggesting in a dissent that they violate the Separation of Powers doctrine. Had Justice Scalia's views prevailed, environmental law would be eviscerated. 

Judge Gorsuch appears to be as hostile to citizen enforcement as Scalia, if not more so. On three separate occasions he has denied access by environmental NGOs to federal courts, relying on cramped views of what it takes to gain access to the federal courts. He has written about his disdain for litigation which seeks to influence public policy—read public-interest litigation. This is a rigid view of our environmental laws, laws that have safeguarded this country's air, water, and wilderness from devastating harms like Love Canal. Congress put citizen enforcement in every one of these laws for a reason. They knew that state governments, corporations, and hostile Executive Branches would not be sufficient guardians of our environment. Right now we cannot trust Donald Trump to safeguard our environment. 

So what to do? Tell your senators to take a stand against Gorsuch. And keep your head up -- we all need to muster courage in these challenging times.