Supreme Court of the United States
Neil Gorsuch
Associate Justice
Biography
Neil McGill Gorsuch is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on January 31, 2017, and has served since April 10, 2017.
Source: Wikipedia
Education & Career
Undergraduate
Columbia University, A.B. in Political Science (1988)
Law School
Harvard Law School, J.D. (1991); University of Oxford, D.Phil. in Legal Philosophy (2004)
Prior Roles
- —Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (2006–2017)
- —Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General (2005–2006)
- —Acting Associate Attorney General (2004–2005)
Judicial Philosophy
Gorsuch is an originalist and textualist in the tradition of Justice Antonin Scalia. He focuses on the plain meaning of statutory text and historical understanding of constitutional provisions, and has been skeptical of broad administrative agency deference.
Notable Opinions
Bostock v. Clayton County
2020
Held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination "because of sex," protects gay and transgender employees. The opinion applied textualist reasoning to reach this conclusion.
McGirt v. Oklahoma
2020
Held that the Creek Nation's reservation in eastern Oklahoma was never formally disestablished by Congress, meaning much of eastern Oklahoma — including parts of Tulsa — remains Indian Country for purposes of federal criminal jurisdiction.
Sackett v. EPA
2023
Narrowed the federal government's authority under the Clean Water Act, holding that the Act only covers wetlands with a continuous surface connection to traditionally navigable waters.