UPDATED! Neil Gorsuch: Does Not Belong on the Supreme Court

We would be STUCK with GORSUCH'S extremist views were he to be approved for SCOTUS. 

Much has been written and will be added to this post. Please keep checking back. 

Neil Gorsuch and the "Frozen Trucker" 
Jed Handelsman Shugerman, Slate 
Shugerman writes: "I have tried to be balanced in reviewing Judge Neil Gorsuch's record. In a post right after his nomination, I called his decision criticizing 'Chevron deference' (Gutierrez-Brizuela v. Lynch) brilliant, a thorough and deep defense of judges deciding 'what the law is' rather than deferring to agency officials." 
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FOCUS: Elizabeth Warren | Neil Gorsuch Does Not Belong on the Supreme Court 
 
Elizabeth Warren, The Boston Globe 
Warren writes: "When Justice Antonin Scalia died last year, giant corporations and their right-wing buddies spent millions of dollars to keep the Supreme Court seat open so that Donald Trump could fill the vacancy." 
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Republicans Are Likely to Use the 'Nuclear Option' to Confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court 
Philip Rotner, Reader Supported News 
Rotner writes: "While there are enough Republican votes in the Senate to confirm Gorsuch by a simple majority, Senate rules require a super-majority of 60 votes to end a filibuster." 
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Student: Gorsuch Told Class 'Many' Women Manipulate Maternity Leave 
Daniella Silva, NBC News 
Silva writes: "A former law student of President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee alleges that Neil Gorsuch told a class that 'many' women manipulate their employers for maternity benefits and that law firms should ask female interviewees about their pregnancy plans in order to protect their companies." 
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FOCUS: Russ Feingold | If Gorsuch Is Confirmed, the Legitimacy of the US Supreme Court Won't Recover 
 
Russ Feingold, Guardian UK 
Feingold writes: "While Russia's involvement in our elections is unquestionably horrible, and it will likely take many more drip, drip, drips before we know the full extent of it, our democracy is facing an equally devastating threat much closer to home." 
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Amid Charges by Former Law Student on Gender Equality, Former Clerks Defend Gorsuch | 20 March 2017 | A former law student of Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, alleges that in a course she took from Gorsuch at the University of Colorado Law School last year, the judge told his class that employers, specifically law firms, should ask women seeking jobs about their plans for having children and implied that women manipulate companies starting in the interview stage to extract maternity benefits.




Neil Gorsuch Defended Columbia's So-Called 'Date-Rape Frat' 
Brandy Zadrozny, The Daily Beast 
Zadrozny writes: "During Neil Gorsuch's time at his beloved Phi Gamma Delta, former members and fellow students accused the frat of degrading women and spiking the punch." 
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Want to Know Where Supreme Court Nominees Stand? Don’t Bother Asking

Expect fireworks at Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing - WGBH

Warren slams Supreme Court nominee as mere puppet of big companies and right-wing billionaires

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a former Harvard Law School professor, isn’t impressed with the credentials of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, whose nomination hearings start today in Washington. “Big companies and rich right-wing billionaires are spending top dollar to help a judge like Gorsuch get over the finish line,” Warren says in a Globe op-ed. “But that’s not how our court system is supposed to work. Our courts are supposed to be neutral arbiters, dispensing justice based on the facts and the law — not the party with the most money or political power.” Boston Globe

Neil Gorsuch Is No Originalist: The Founders Loathed Corporate Power, He Favors It 
 
Jay Michaelson, The Daily Beast 
Michaelson writes: "Stop calling Judge Neil Gorsuch an originalist. His opinions would make the Founding Fathers turn over in their graves." 
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Gorsuch Emails Reveal a Staunch Bush Era Torture Defender 
Seung Min Kim, Politico 
Kim writes: "More than a decade ago as a lawyer in the George W. Bush Justice Department, Neil Gorsuch recommended that federal judges visit Guantanamo Bay as a way of becoming 'more sympathetic' to the Bush administration's defense of its detainee policies." 
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Next week, the Senate is scheduled to begin hearings on President Trump’s nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. 

After Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell obstructed justice (pun intended) by denying a hearing on Judge Merrick Garland for nearly a year, the Senate is now moving quickly to fill this stolen seat with a judge who poses a clear threat to the rights and laws that protect women, workers and all those who face discrimination.

Urge your senators to reject Judge Gorsuch. He's wrong for the Court and wrong for the country »

In short, Judge Gorsuch’s confirmation would be devastating for all who care about women’s health and rights — and about stopping discrimination. 

This nation needs a Supreme Court justice with a deep commitment to equal justice for all — not someone who will lead us backward. 

That's why the National Partnership just released a detailed report that explains how Judge Gorsuch has repeatedly sided with big corporations and employers against employees and would move our nation backward on reproductive rights.

Among the findings in our new report, "The Nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court: A Threat to Women, Workers and All Those Who Face Discrimination": 

In Planned Parenthood Association of Utah v. Herbert, Judge Gorsuch sought to undermine women’s access to reproductive health care, including sexually transmitted infection testing and sexual health education, by siding with anti-choice politicians and against Planned Parenthood.

Judge Gorsuch voted to allow employers to use religion to discriminate and to deny women birth control coverage, in Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Sebelius and in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Burwell. His approach would effectively give employers veto power over their employees’ reproductive health decisions.

In two cases of job-related sex discrimination, Judge Gorsuch voted to deny the victim the chance to have her case heard by a jury. In Strickland v. UPS, the plaintiff suffered increased and unfair oversight by her supervisor after she returned from medical leave, and in Pinkerton v. Colorado Department of Transportation, the plaintiff experienced egregious sexual harassment and retaliation for reporting it.

In Zamora v. Elite Logistics, Inc., Judge Gorsuch joined an opinion in which a closely divided 10th Circuit, sitting en banc, found against an employee who alleged race and national origin discrimination.

In an especially callous ruling in Hwang v. Kansas State University, Judge Gorsuch affirmed a district court decision denying a disability discrimination claim brought by a seriously ill employee who was struggling to survive cancer.

Judge Gorsuch demonstrated gross insensitivity to employees in his dissent inTransAm Trucking v. Administrative Review Board, in which an employee was fired because he disregarded his supervisor’s instructions in order to seek help when his life was in jeopardy; and in Compass Environmental v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, in which Judge Gorsuch would have refused to uphold a fine against a company that failed to properly train a new worker about the dangers of a high voltage line, resulting in the worker’s death.

Judge Gorsuch ruled to deny basic protections to transgender plaintiffs, in Kastl v. Maricopa County Community College District and Druley v. Patton, undermining their rights to participate fully and equally in society.

Judge Gorsuch has criticized the Supreme Court’s abortion rights jurisprudence, and has made clear that he does not believe the Constitution should protect personal autonomy.

That's why we must stand strong for women and families. That's why we must urge the Senate to vote against the confirmation of Judge Gorsuch »

Together, our resistance must continue.

Thanks for all that you do!

Wrong for the Court, Wrong for the Country

Senate Confirmation of Gorsuch Would Put Women, Workers at Grave Risk, Report Warns

WASHINGTON, D.C. — March 16, 2017 —

Time and again throughout his career, Judge Neil Gorsuch has interpreted the law to narrow women’s reproductive rights and side with corporations over people, according to a powerful new report released today by the National Partnership for Women & Families. The in-depth look at the U.S. Supreme Court nominee’s record finds that, whether the issue was sex discrimination or worker safety, Judge Gorsuch regularly sided with corporations. He also has ruled to undermine the rights of immigrants and LGBTQ individuals, among others, and supported for-profit corporations’ right to deny their employees insurance coverage for birth control.

Those are among the reasons “The Nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court: A Threat to Women, Workers and All Those Who Face Discrimination” concludes that confirmation of Gorsuch poses a clear threat to the rights and laws that protect women, workers and others who seek to vindicate their civil rights in court. Confirmation, it warns, could lead to an America in which corporations are allowed to excuse themselves from basic civil rights protections and safety measures; well-resourced employers are permitted to defeat a person’s right to present evidence of discrimination to a jury; any so-called religious objections shield corporations that have infringed upon people’s equal rights under the law; and women, once again, are denied autonomy over their own bodies and futures.

“Judge Gorsuch’s confirmation would be devastating for all who care about women’s health and rights and about stopping discrimination,” said National Partnership President Debra L. Ness. “His record on women’s reproductive rights is far out of the mainstream of legal thinking in this country. His rulings indicate that he would try to make the country less fair for women, people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals and all those who face bias. Put simply, Judge Gorsuch is wrong for the court and wrong for the country. Every senator who cares at all about women’s rights and about protecting those who face discrimination must reject this nominee.”

Among the findings in the new report:

• In two cases of job-related sex discrimination, Judge Gorsuch voted to deny the victim the chance to have her case heard by a jury. In Strickland v. UPS, the plaintiff suffered increased and unfair oversight by her supervisor after she returned from medical leave, and in Pinkerton v. Colorado Department of Transportation, the plaintiff experienced egregious sexual harassment and retaliation for reporting it.
• In Zamora v. Elite Logistics, Inc., Judge Gorsuch joined an opinion in which a closely divided 10th Circuit, sitting en banc, found against an employee who alleged race and national origin discrimination.
• In an especially callous ruling in Hwang v. Kansas State University, Judge Gorsuch affirmed a district court decision denying a disability discrimination claim brought by a seriously ill employee who was struggling to survive cancer.
• Judge Gorsuch demonstrated gross insensitivity to employees in his dissent inTransAm Trucking v. Administrative Review Board, in which an employee was fired because he disregarded his supervisor’s instructions in order to seek help when his life was in jeopardy; and in Compass Environmental v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, in which Judge Gorsuch would have refused to uphold a fine against a company that failed to properly train a new worker about the dangers of a high voltage line, resulting in the worker’s death.
• Judge Gorsuch ruled to deny basic protections to transgender plaintiffs, in Kastl v. Maricopa County Community College District and Druley v. Patton, undermining their rights to participate fully and equally in society.
• Judge Gorsuch voted to allow employers to use religion to discriminate and to deny women birth control coverage, in Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Sebelius and in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Burwell. His approach would effectively give employers veto power over their employees’ reproductive health decisions.
• In Planned Parenthood Association of Utah v. Herbert, Judge Gorsuch sought to undermine women’s access to reproductive health care, including sexually transmitted infection testing and sexual health education, by siding with anti-choice politicians and against Planned Parenthood.
• Judge Gorsuch has criticized the Supreme Court’s abortion rights jurisprudence, and has made clear that he does not believe the Constitution should protect personal autonomy.

“The evidence is overwhelming that Judge Gorsuch poses a threat to the rights and legal protections that are essential to fairness and equal opportunity in our country,” added Judith L. Lichtman, senior advisor at the National Partnership. “By nominating Judge Gorsuch, President Trump delivered on his promise to appoint a justice who is fundamentally hostile to reproductive rights. His confirmation would be a tremendous setback for our country. The Senate must vote ‘no’ on this nominee.”

The full report, “The Nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court: A Threat to Women, Workers and All Those Who Face Discrimination” is available here.

CONTACT

Lauren Sogor (202) 986-2600 lsogor@nationalpartnership.org

The National Partnership for Women & Families is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy group dedicated to promoting fairness in the workplace, access to quality health care and policies that help women and men meet the dual demands of work and family. More information is available at www.NationalPartnership.org.