Judge Gorsuch’s Record Suggests He is Not an Independent Voice – He is a Conservative with “the Vision of Donald Trump”

Judge Gorsuch may act like a genial, neutral judge, but his record suggests he actually has a radical right-wing agenda and must have met President Trump’s pro-life litmus test. Just take it from White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus: Judge Neil Gorsuch “represents a conservative—represents the type of judge that has the vision of Donald Trump and it fulfills the promise that he made to all of you and to all Americans across the country.”

Judge Gorsuch’s most hard-right cheerleaders have said over and over again that he is unequivocally conservative. And Ed Whelan, President of Ethics and Public Policy Center, declared Judge Gorsuch’s record clearly shows he is pro-life.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus: “Whether, you know -- and you look at the our -- the world -- our world order and -- and some of the things that are going on that I think are -- will be dealt with soon, but the first thing I think is Neil Gorsuch, for a couple things. Number one, we're not talking about a change over a four year period. We're talking about a change of potentially 40 years of law, number one. But more important than that -- more important to that, it established trust. It established that President Trump is a man of his word. We always knew that. But when he said here's 20 names on a piece of paper back in July, remember and he said I'm going to pick my judge out of these 20 people that are on this piece of paper and he did it, that's number one. Because Neil Gorsuch represents a conservative -- represents the type of judge that has the vision of Donald Trump and it fulfills the promise that he made to all of you and to all Americans across the country.” [Conservative Political Action Conference, 2/23/17]

Gorsuch the Conservative:

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA): “While we can never truly replace Justice Antonin Scalia—who was one of the greatest legal minds in our nation’s history—in Neil Gorsuch, President Trump has chosen a principled conservative to fill this important vacancy.” [Press Release, 1/31/17]

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA): “Judge Gorsuch is a sound conservative and a great choice to fill Judge Scalia's vacancy.” [Tweet, 1/31/17]

Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ): “In so many ways, the people in this room have done their job. We have a conservative House, a conservative Senate, we have a conservative that's going to be put on the Supreme Court.” [Conservative Political Action Conference, 2/23/17]

Evangelist Franklin Graham: “He's a true conservative.” [The Christian Broadcasting Network, 2/1/17]

Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union: “So I think so far, conservatives with this selection of Neil Gorsuch and this most conservative cabinet, I think they feel really good about the way this administration is starting.” [CNN, 2/22/17]

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO): “I believe Neil Gorsuch holds the same conservative values that Americans want to see in a Supreme Court Justice.” [Press Release, 1/31/17]

Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO): “President Trump has taken an important step in restoring balance to the Supreme Court by nominating a fervent champion of true conservative values.’” [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/1/17]

Ed Whelan, President of Ethics and Public Policy Center: “I don’t know what Schlafly means by his claim that Gorsuch ‘has said nothing publicly pro-life.’ If declaring in writing that ‘human life is fundamentally and inherently valuable, and that the intentional taking of human life by private persons is always wrong’ (page 157 of his book) doesn’t count, then what does?” [National Review, 11/30/16]

Jeffrey Rosen, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Constitution Center: ‘”The real appeal of Gorsuch's nomination is he’s likely to be the most effective conservative nominee in terms of winning over Anthony Kennedy and forging conservative decisions on the court.’” [Politico, 1/31/17]

Richard Primus, University of Michigan Law Professor: “University of Michigan law professor Richard Primus said Gorsuch ‘may be the closest thing the new generation of conservative judges has to Antonin Scalia.’” [Associated Press, 1/31/17]

Richard Hasen, University of California-Irvine Professor of Law and Political Science: “Supreme Court scholars and practitioners on the right and left may disagree about whether they want to see Gorsuch confirmed, but in general there is little doubt about the nominee's conservatism. Indeed, his conservative pedigree is the reason he was picked. ‘On issues like abortion and affirmative action and gun rights and states' rights, we can expect him overall to be a reliable conservative vote and someone who's going to forcefully and eloquently put forward conservative positions on the court,’ predicts Richard Hasen, professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine.” [NPR, 3/16/17]