Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump will nominate Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, Trump announced Tuesday night at the White House.

The nomination of Gorsuch, a 49-year-old federal appellate judge from Colorado, gives Trump and Republicans the opportunity to confirm someone who could cement the conservative direction of the court for decades.

His selection also sets up an intense fight with Senate Democrats, still angry over the Republicans' decision to essentially ignore former President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland for the empty Supreme Court seat last year.

Introducing Gorsuch, Trump said he had committed as a candidate to "find the very best judge in the country for the Supreme Court."

"Millions of voters said this was the single most important issue for them when they voted for me for president," Trump said. "I am a man of my word."

"Today I am keeping another promise to the American people by nominating Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court."

The court has been operating with eight justices since the sudden death last February of Justice Antonin Scalia. If confirmed, Gorsuch would continue the ideological balance that existed before Scalia's death, with four conservatives, four liberals and Justice Anthony Kennedy as a swing vote between the blocs.

Trump selected Gorsuch -- who sits on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals -- from a list of 20 potential justices compiled during the presidential campaign in a direct appeal to conservative and evangelical voters skeptical about his commitment to their values.

Gorsuch's opinions on religious liberty, where he sided with the challengers to the so-called Obamacare contraceptive mandate, and on the separation of powers, where he said too much deference was given by the courts to administrative agencies, are key to his appeal to Republicans. As is his age. At 49, he could carry on Trump's legacy long after the President leaves office.

Gorsuch's legal philosophy

Unlike others on Trump's list, Gorsuch has an Ivy League pedigree, having attended Columbia and Harvard, and also studied at Oxford, where he earned a doctorate in legal philosophy.

Gorsuch is a fourth-generation Coloradan and a former clerk to both Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy.

"It is an extraordinary resume. As good as it gets," Trump said.

"The qualifications of Judge Gorsuch are beyond dispute," Trump said. "I only hope that Democrats and Republicans can come together for one, for the good of the country."

On the bench he joined an opinion siding with closely held corporations who believed that the so-called contraceptive mandate of Obamacare violated their religious beliefs. The ruling was later upheld by the Supreme Court. Gorsuch wrote separately holding that the mandate infringed upon the owners' religious beliefs "requiring them to lend what their religion teaches to be an impermissible degree of assistance to the commission of what their religion teaches to be a moral wrong."

He also wrote a majority opinion in a separation of powers case holding that too much deference was given to administrative agencies. This issue is a favorite of conservatives and Gorsuch's beliefs align with those of Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas.

Gorsuch, in a speech last year at Case Western Reserve University School of law, aligned himself with Scalia's judicial philosophy.

"The great project of Justice Scalia's career was to remind us of the differences between judges and legislators. To remind us that legislators may appeal to their own moral convictions and to claims about social utility to reshape the law as they think it should be in the future, " he said. "But that judges should do none of these things in a democratic society."

At the White House Gorsuch he would faithfully commit to upholding the laws of the nation, saying he would act as a "servant of the Constitution and laws of this country."

Like Trump, he cited Scalia as a model.

"Justice Scalia was a lion of the law," he said.

Democratic opposition and the ghost of Garland

Senate Democratic leaders instantly painted Gorsuch as an extremist and said he must get the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster.

"Judge Gorsuch has repeatedly sided with corporations over working people, demonstrated a hostility toward women's rights, and most troubling, hewed to an ideological approach to jurisprudence that makes me skeptical that he can be a strong, independent justice on the court," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Trump "outsourced this process to far-right interest groups."

"President Trump said he would appoint justices who would overturn 40 years of jurisprudence established in Roe v. Wade," Leahy said. "Judge Gorsuch has shown a willingness to limit women's access to health care that suggests the President is making good on that promise."

For Democrats, the nomination is made worse by what happened with Garland.

When Obama nominated Garland to take Scalia's seat last year, liberals hoped that they would get a liberal majority that would swing the court left on key issues such as abortion, campaign finance and voting rights.

But Senate Republicans refused to hold hearings, citing the impending election which was still eight months away.

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Democrats have said they would fight the new nominee "tooth and nail" putting not only his or her credentials to the test, but holding Republicans responsible for what liberals say is a "stolen seat."

After Trump's unexpected win, conservatives rejoiced, expecting the new president to nominate someone to the bench in the mold of Scalia. They also hope that with three justices on the Supreme Court in their late 70s and early 80s, Trump might have at least one more vacancy to fill.

If, for example, Justice Anthony Kennedy were to step down, the conservatives might be able to chip away at Roe v. Wade, the landmark opinion that legalized abortion.

Mother was EPA administrator

Gorsuch's confirmation would mean a return to Washington.

He spent part of his youth in Washington when his mother, Anne Gorsuch Burford, served in the Reagan administration as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

She resigned in 1983 under controversy after refusing to turn over toxic waste records to Congress.

He served as a partner at a prestigious Washington Law firm, Kellogg, Huber as well as Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General.

Gorsuch and his wife Louise have two daughters. They live in Boulder, Colorado.</s>WASHINGTON, DC – President Donald Trump will announce his choice for the current vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday night.

12News will be streaming the president’s statement live on Tuesday night in this space and on Facebook.

The new Supreme Court justice could tip the scales on the bench for big issues such as abortion and immigration.

The president reportedly has two names at the top of his Supreme Court list: Neil Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman.

Democrats say they will at the nominee’s positions and fight if needed.

President Trump is announcing his selection approximately 24 hours after he fired acting U.S. Attorney Sally Yates.

Yates sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice that she was not convinced the president’s executive order instituting a limited travel ban is legal.

Hours after sending the letter, President Trump fired her and named Dana Boente, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, as acting attorney general until, according to the White House, U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions is approved by the Senate as the nation's new chief justice officer.

The travel ban may be one of the big cases the court could decide in the coming months.</s>Washington: US President Donald Trump sought to seize back political momentum Tuesday by unveiling his pick for the Supreme Court, as he weathered new challenges to his controversial immigration order and saw the confirmation of several key cabinet nominees stall in Congress.

Here are five takeaways from the day's events in Washington:

- Supreme Court -

Trump introduced conservative federal appellate judge Neil Gorsuch as his choice to fill the Supreme Court seat that has been vacant for nearly a year, since the death of conservative Antonin Scalia.

The announcement played out in prime time, complete with teasers delivered in the runup to the 8:00 pm announcement by Trump himself on Twitter.

Gorsuch, 49, is considered to be an "originalist" -- guided in his legal reasoning by what he believes to be the constitution's original intent and meaning. He is the youngest nominee in a generation.

The nine-seat court has been at eight since Scalia died in February 2016, as Republicans refused to set up a confirmation hearing for Barack Obama's pick, Merrick Garland.

- Diplo dissent -

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sharpened his criticism of Trump's ban on travelers from seven mainly-Muslim nations, calling it a "blind" measure more likely to fan extremist propaganda than combat the threat of terrorism.

Guterres warned that countries seeking to strengthen control of their borders cannot do so "based on any form of discrimination related to religion, ethnicity or nationality."

Echoing his stance, a large group of US diplomats from around the world formally opposed the executive order, despite the White House warning that they should get behind his agenda or resign.

"We are better than this ban," they declared, according to leaked drafts of the "dissent memo," scorning Trump's plan to introduce "extreme vetting" for visa applicants as a "high, vague and nebulous bar" for travelers from the seven countries to meet.

The debate over Trump's executive order on immigration veered from questions about its merits and effectiveness to pure semantics: when is a ban a ban?

"This is not a Muslim ban. It's not a travel ban/ It's a vetting system to keep America safe. That's it. Plain and simple," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters, complaining that the word "ban" is inappropriate.

One problem: Trump used the very word in a tweet on Monday.

"He is using the word that the media is using," explained an uneasy Spicer.

- None shall pass -

Trump kicked off the day with a combative tweet aimed at Democrats he accuses of obstructing the approval of Jeff Sessions, his nominee for attorney general, and other members of his cabinet.

"They should be ashamed of themselves! No wonder D.C. doesn't work!" Trump wrote.

Senate Democrats gave him little reason to relent as the day went on, blocking committee votes on two key nominations: Treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin and health secretary-designate Tom Price.

The White House rebuke was swift, with Spicer calling the boycott "truly outrageous."

Democrats have dug in over the nominations, alarmed by what they see as extreme picks for a raft of key posts and angered by Trump's aggressive first week in office.

Despite the partisan tensions, one cabinet member managed to win confirmation: Elaine Chao, the next transportation secretary -- and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Top Trump economic advisor Peter Navarro bashed Germany for exploiting an undervalued euro to take advantage of its European neighbors, in a rare public rebuke of a major US trading partner.

Navarro's comments, made in a Financial Times interview, were the latest example of the new US administration's abrasive tactics, with Trump himself using public attacks and Twitter to criticize businesses and allies.

Navarro, who heads the White House's new National Trade Council, told the FT that Germany "continues to exploit other countries in the EU as well as the US with an 'implicit Deutsche mark' that is grossly undervalued."

A hardliner on trade and especially China's rise, Navarro also said the planned trade deal between the United States and European Union -- the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership -- was dead.

He repeated Trump's statements that the administration will pursue bilateral agreements that favor the United States.</s>President Donald Trump has nominated federal appeals judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

The 49-year-old Gorsuch has served on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver since 2006, after being appointed by President George W. Bush. He once worked at the Supreme Court as a law clerk.

If approved by the Senate, Gorsuch would take the seat left vacant since Justice Antonin Scalia died last year. Republicans refused to consider President Barack Obama's nominee for the seat, saying the choice should go Obama's successor.

He would be the youngest justice since Clarence Thomas joined the court in 1991 at age 43.

Trump made the announcement Tuesday in a prime-time address from the White House.</s>President Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch, a fast-rising conservative judge with a writer's flair, to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, a selection expected to spark a fierce fight with Democrats over a jurist who could shape America's legal landscape for decades to come.At 49, Gorsuch is the youngest Supreme Court nominee in a quarter century. He's distinguished himself on the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals with his clear, colloquial writing, advocacy for court review of government regulations, defense of religious freedom and skepticism toward law enforcement."Judge Gorsuch has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline and has earned bipartisan support," Trump said, announcing the nomination in his first televised address from the White House.Gorsuch's nomination was cheered by conservatives wary of Trump's own fluid ideology. If confirmed by the Senate, he will fill the seat left vacant by the death last year of Antonin Scalia, long the right's most powerful voice on the high court.Some Democrats, still smarting over Trump's unexpected victory in the presidential election, have vowed to mount a vigorous challenge to nearly any nominee to what they view as the court's "stolen seat." President Barack Obama nominated U.S. Circuit Court Judge Merrick Garland for the vacancy after Scalia's death, but Senate Republicans refused to consider the pick, saying the seat should be filled only after the November election.Trump's choice of Gorsuch marks perhaps the most significant decision of his young presidency, one with ramifications that could last long after he leaves office. After an uneven start to his presidency, including the chaotic rollout of a controversial refugee ban, Trump's selection of Gorsuch appeared to proceed with little drama.For some Republicans, the prospect of filling one or more Supreme Court seats over the next four years has helped ease their concerns about Trump's experience and temperament. Three justices are in their late 70s and early 80s, and a retirement would offer Trump the opportunity to cement conservative dominance of the court for many years.If confirmed, Gorsuch will restore the court to the conservative tilt it held with Scalia on the bench. But he is not expected to call into question high-profile rulings on abortion, gay marriage and other issues in which the court has been divided 5-4 in recent years.Gorsuch was among the 21 possible choices for the court Trump released during the campaign. Other finalists also came from that list, including Thomas Hardiman, who serves alongside Trump's sister on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and William Pryor, a federal appeals court judge and Alabama's attorney general from 1997 to 2004.Pryor's standing slipped in the lead up to the announcement, in part because his reputation as a staunch conservative seems likely to make him a rich target for Democratic senators in a confirmation hearing.Yet Gorsuch, too, is expected to face intense scrutiny from Democrats. Some liberals have demanded that Democrats block any Trump choice, underscoring the deep partisan discord surging through Washington."Now is not the time for business as usual," MoveOn.org's Ilya Sheyman said in a statement.Gorsuch is a Colorado native who earned his bachelor's degree from Columbia University in three years, then a law degree from Harvard. He clerked for Supreme Court Justices Byron White, a fellow Coloradan, and Anthony Kennedy before earning a philosophy degree at Oxford University and working for a prominent Washington, D.C., law firm.He served for two years in President George W. Bush's Department of Justice before the president nominated him to the appeals court.Gorsuch has contended that courts give too much deference to government agencies' interpretations of statutes, a deference that stems from a Supreme Court ruling in a 1984 case. He sided with two groups that successfully challenged the Obama administration's requirements that employers provide health insurance that includes contraception.If Democrats decide to filibuster Gorsuch's nomination, his fate could rest in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Trump has encouraged McConnell to change the rules of the Senate and make it impossible to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee - a change known in the Senate as the "nuclear option."A conservative group already has announced plans to begin airing $2 million worth of ads in support of the nominee in Indiana, Missouri, Montana and North Dakota, four states that Trump won and in which Democrats will be defending their Senate seats in 2018.Chicago Kent College of Law Dean Harold Krent considers both judges conservative but mainstream jurists."The two leading candidates are both well-qualified, they're well-respected. They're quite conservative too, that's what you'd expect after this election," Krent said.Trump said last fall on television that, "The justices I'm going to appoint will be pro-life. They will have a conservative bent. They will be protecting the Second Amendment."Back then the long list of possible nominees included Judge Diane Sykes of Chicago's Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals."Judge Sykes is also conservative. She's also well-respected. She'll probably be considered f there's a further vacancy," Krent said.Krent said a conservative replacement for the vacancy will not change the court as we have known it for the past few years. It's the next Trump nominee, if he should have one, which could be a "game changer.""Then, a conservative appointment replacing, say, a Justice Ginsberg could destabilize the Court and send it rightward," he said.Gorsuch appeared on the list of of 21 possible choices that he made public during the campaign, and each has met with him to discuss the vacancy that arose when Antonin Scalia died nearly a year ago.Trump's pick will restore a general conservative tilt to the court but is not expected to call into question high-profile rulings on abortion, gay marriage and other issues in which the court has been divided 5-4 in recent years.That GOP effort outraged the White House and congressional Democrats, who have suggested they might seek to block any choice Trump makes. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will oppose any nominee outside the mainstream.White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that while Democrats may not like the "political or philosophical background" of the president's pick, "the criteria in terms of academia background, time on the bench, the expertise and criteria meets the intent of both Republicans and Democrats."If Democrats decide to filibuster, the fate of Trump's nominee could rest in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Trump has encouraged McConnell to change the rules of the Senate and make it impossible to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee - a change known in the Senate as the "nuclear option."A conservative group already has announced plans to begin airing $2 million worth of ads in support of the nominee in Indiana, Missouri, Montana and North Dakota, four states that Trump won and in which Democrats will be defending their Senate seats in 2018.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has nominated Neil Gorsuch, a fast-rising conservative judge with a writer’s flair, to the Supreme Court, setting up a fierce fight with Democrats over a jurist who could shape America’s legal landscape for decades to come.

At 49, Gorsuch is the youngest Supreme Court nominee in a quarter-century. He’s known on the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals for clear, colloquial writing, advocacy for court review of government regulations, defense of religious freedom and skepticism toward law enforcement.

“Judge Gorsuch has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline and has earned bipartisan support,” Trump declared, announcing the nomination in his first televised prime-time address from the White House.

 Gorsuch’s nomination Tuesday was cheered by conservatives wary of Trump’s own fluid ideology. If confirmed by the Senate, he would fill the seat left vacant by the death last year of Antonin Scalia, long the right’s most powerful voice on the high court.

With Scalia’s wife, Maureen, sitting in the audience, Trump took care to praise the late justice. Gorsuch followed, calling Scalia a “lion of the law.”

Gorsuch thanked Trump for entrusting him with “a most solemn assignment.” Outlining his legal philosophy, he said: “It is the rule of judges to apply, not alter, the work of the people’s representatives. A judge who likes every outcome he reaches is very likely a bad judge.”

Some Democrats, still smarting over Trump’s unexpected victory in the presidential election, have vowed to mount a vigorous challenge to nearly any nominee to what they view as the court’s “stolen seat.” President Barack Obama nominated U.S. Circuit Court Judge Merrick Garland for the vacancy after Scalia’s death, but Senate Republicans refused to consider the pick, saying the seat should be filled only after the November election.

Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer said he has “serious doubts” that Gorsuch is within what Democrats consider the legal mainstream, saying he “hewed to an ideological approach to jurisprudence that makes me skeptical that he can be a strong, independent justice on the court.”

Trump’s choice of Gorsuch marks perhaps the most significant decision of his young presidency, one with ramifications that could last long after he leaves office. After a reality television buildup to Tuesday’s announcement — including a senior Trump adviser saying more than one court candidate was heading to Washington ahead of the event— the actual reveal was traditional and drama-free.

For some Republicans, the prospect of filling one or more Supreme Court seats over the next four years has helped ease their concerns about Trump’s experience and temperament. Three justices are in their late 70s and early 80s, and a retirement would offer Trump the opportunity to cement conservative dominance of the court for many years.

Gorsuch would restore the court to the conservative tilt it held with Scalia on the bench. But he is not expected to call into question high-profile rulings on abortion, gay marriage and other issues in which the court has been divided 5-4 in recent years.

If confirmed, Gorsuch would join the court that is often the final arbiter for presidential policy. Justices upheld Obama’s signature health care law in 2012 and could eventually hear arguments over Trump’s controversial refugee and immigration executive order.

Gorsuch’s writings outside the court offer insight into his conservative leanings. He lashed out at liberals in a 2005 opinion piece for National Review, written before he became a federal judge.

“American liberals have become addicted to the courtroom, relying on judges and lawyers rather than elected leaders and the ballot box, as the primary means for effecting their social agenda on everything from gay marriage to assisted suicide to the use of vouchers for private-school education,” he wrote.

Gorsuch has won praise from conservatives for his defense of religious freedom, including in a case involving the Hobby Lobby craft stores. He voted in favor of privately held for-profit secular corporations, and individuals who owned or controlled them, who raised religious objections to paying for contraception for women covered under their health plans.

The judge also has written opinions that question 30 years of Supreme Court rulings that allow federal agencies to interpret laws and regulations. Gorsuch has said that federal bureaucrats have been allowed to accumulate too much power at the expense of Congress and the courts.

Like Scalia, Gorsuch identifies himself as a judge who tries to decide cases by interpreting the Constitution and laws as they were understood when written. He also has raised questions about criminal laws in a way that resembles Scalia’s approach to criminal law.

University of Michigan law professor Richard Primus said Gorsuch “may be the closest thing the new generation of conservative judges has to Antonin Scalia.”

Gorsuch, like the other eight justices on the court, has an Ivy League law degree. The Colorado native earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in three years, then a law degree from Harvard. He clerked for Supreme Court Justices Byron White, a fellow Coloradan, and Anthony Kennedy before earning a philosophy degree at Oxford University and working for a prominent Washington law firm.

He served for two years in George W. Bush’s Department of Justice before Bush nominated him to the appeals court. His mother was Anne Gorsuch Burford, who was head of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Reagan administration.

Gorsuch was among the 21 possible choices for the court Trump released during the campaign. Other finalists also came from that list, including Thomas Hardiman, who serves alongside Trump’s sister on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and William Pryor, a federal appeals court judge and Alabama’s attorney general from 1997 to 2004.

If Democrats decide to filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination, his fate could rest in the hands of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Trump has encouraged McConnell to change the rules of the Senate and make it impossible to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee — a change known in the Senate as the “nuclear option.”

A conservative group already has announced plans to begin airing $2 million worth of ads in support of the nominee in Indiana, Missouri, Montana and North Dakota, four states that Trump won and in which Democrats will be defending their Senate seats in 2018.</s>Donald Trump has nominated a conservative Colorado judge as his choice to take the vacant seat on America’s highest court.

In a primetime announcement from the East Room at the White House, the President named Neil Gorsuch as his pick to fill the gap on the US Supreme Court.

All of the major US television networks broke into their regular programming to carry the announcement live – a return to prime time for the President who used to host The Apprentice. The event was streamed by the White House on Facebook Live.

Mr Gorsuch would take the place of fellow conservative Antonin Scalia, who died a year ago, but he faces a contentious battle for confirmation from the US Senate.

Democrats remain angry that Republicans blocked President Barack Obama’s nominee for the position.

Many refused even to meet Merrick Garland, arguing that it was too late in Mr Obama’s presidency for him to make an appointment.

It raises the prospect of further bad-tempered clashes and procedural manoeuvres on Capitol Hill even as President Trump struggles to have cabinet appointments confirmed.

Mr Trump said: This has been the most transparent and most important Supreme Court selection process in the history of our country and I wanted the American people to have a voice in this nomination.

Judge Gorsuch has a superb intellect, an unparalleled legal education, and a commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its text.

He will make an incredible Justice as soon as the Senate confirms him.

At 49, Judge Gorsuch would be the youngest Supreme Court appointee for three decades.

The Supreme Court pick is one of the consequential decisions of any presidency because it is, in effect, a job for life. The justice and his or her decisions live on long past the President’s term.

He said he was honoured and humbled to be selected.

Polls have shown that concern over who would succeed Mr Scalia was a major factor for many voters who opted for Trump. Like Mr Scalia, Judge Gorsuch believes in the original interpretation of the US Constitution.

The Supreme Court is currently split evenly between justices appointed by Republican and Democrat presidents.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, appointed by Ronald Reagan, is a moderate conservative who has often been the swing vote.

It means Mr Trump’s choice will effectively restore the balance of power that existed before Mr Scalia’s death.

The court is the ultimate voice on a range of contentious issues and the Trump presidency could thrust abortion, climate change, the death penalty and LGBT rights into the justices’ hands.

This might not be the only Supreme Court appointment of Trump’s term in office – three existing justices are 78 or older – and the next would probably shift the balance of power.

The selection has been criticised by activists.

Adam Hodge, spokesman for the Constitutional Responsibility Project, said: President Trump’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch is deeply disappointing.

Gorsuch has a history of putting corporations and special interests ahead of the rest of us.

The shocking start to Donald Trump’s presidency has underscored why we need a justice who will serve as a check on the politicians in the other branches of government, including the President himself, when they break the law or violate the Constitution.</s>Supreme Court Justice nominee, Neil Gorsuch meets with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. Last year, Senate Republicans, led by McConnell, blocked a confirmation hearing for Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama's pick for the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia who died in February 2016. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

On Monday, Neil Gorsuch was named President Donald Trump’s nominee for the vacant seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Senate Republicans have expressed their support of Gorsuch at the same time that Democrats are reminding them that President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, was never given a Senate committee hearing.

The road to fill the late Antonin Scalia’s seat could be a rocky one for Gorsuch.

>>What is the nuclear option and what does it have to do with Neil Gorsuch's nomination?

Here’s a look at the process Gorsuch, a justice on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, now finds himself a part of.

1. The president selects a nominee – On the death, retirement or impeachment of a Supreme Court justice, the president has a constitutional duty to nominate someone to take his or her place.

Article Two of the U.S. Constitution – the "Appointments Clause" – gives the executive branch the authority to appoint court justices. The clause reads in part, "… he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... judges of the supreme court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law..."

Not an easy task, the president generally looks for a person with substantial judicial experience; one who shares his ideology (almost always a member of the same political party), and one who actually has a chance to be confirmed by the Senate.

Before the nominee is announced, he or she is investigated by the FBI and other agencies.

2. The confirmation process – Who can served on the High Court? Anyone, really, since the Constitution does not set qualifications for a Supreme Court justice. The only hurdle the Constitution requires is that the nominee be confirmed by the Senate in order to take a seat on the court.

Once that nominee is put forth by the president, the nomination will go before the Senate’s Judiciary Committee. The committee is currently made up of 11 members of the majority party (the Republicans) and nine members of the minority party (the Democrats). That ratio of members is based on the ratio of majority to minority members of Senate.

The Judiciary Committee will hold hearings, questioning the nominee, supporters and opponents. The nominee attends the hearings which can last for days, despite the fact the Constitution does not require a nominee to testify. The Committee's practice of personally interviewing nominees isn’t an historical one. The committee only began to do that in the 1940s.

After the hearings, a vote is taken in the committee. The nominee will receive a favorable recommendation, a negative one or the nomination will be reported to the full Senate with no recommendation.

3. The floor vote – If the nomination makes it out of the committee and to the Senate floor, it is at the mercy of the majority party since that party sets the agenda for Senate action. The Majority Leader, currently Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, will determine when the nomination sees the light of day on the full Senate floor. There is no time frame for him to act.

Likewise, once the nomination makes it to the floor, debate could go on for an indefinite time period since there is no limit on debate on a nomination. If it does get to a vote, it’s a simple majority vote to either confirm of reject a nominee.

4. An end-run – While Senate confirmation is required for a nominee to be appointed to the Supreme Court, if the president wants to, he can make a temporary appointment to fill the vacancy without the Senate having anything to do with it or even being in session. If the Senate is on recess, the president can make something called a “recess appointment” – meaning he simply appoints someone to the vacant court seat. The person appointed would serve on the court until the end of the next Senate session. After that point, the person appointed must go through the formal process of being nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Potter Stewart was the last recess appointment to the Supreme Court made in 1954 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.</s>“Judge Gorsuch has a superb intellect, an unparalleled legal education, and a commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its text. He will make an incredible Justice as soon as the Senate confirms him,” said the US president.

IMAGE: Donald Trump announces his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to be an associate justice of the US Supreme Court at the White House in Washington, DC. Photograph: Carlos Barria/Reuters

United States President Donald Trump has nominated conservative judge Neil Gorsuch as his Supreme Court nominee, a selection which has sparked strong opposition from the Democrats.

Born and raised in Colorado, 49-year-old Gorsuch of the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit is the youngest Supreme Court nominee in a quarter century.

“I am proud to announce the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch for Justice of the Supreme Court,” Trump said in a major announcement from the east Room of the White House on Tuesday.

Gorsuch attended ColumbiaUniversity and HarvardLawSchool. After graduating with honours, he received his doctorate from OxfordUniversity as a Marshall Scholar.

“This has been the most transparent and most important Supreme Court selection process in the history of our country and I wanted the American people to have a voice in this nomination,” Trump said.

“Judge Gorsuch has a superb intellect, an unparalleled legal education, and a commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its text. He will make an incredible Justice as soon as the Senate confirms him,” Trump said, making his first nomination to the Supreme Court.

In 2006, the then President George W Bush nominated him for the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and he was confirmed by voice vote without objection.

“I am honoured and humbled to receive this nomination. I look forward to meeting with Senators over the coming weeks as we begin this process,” Gorsuch said.

In a live prime time address to the nation from the East Room in selecting Gorsuch, Trump said he was fulfilling his promise to select someone who loves the Constitution and respects laws and will interpret them as written.

“This may be the most transparent judicial selection process in history. Months ago as a candidate, I publicly presented a list of brilliant and accomplished people to the American electorate and pledged to make my choice from among that list. Millions of voters said this was the single most important issue to them when they voted for me for president,” he said.

“I am a man of my word. I will do as I say, something that the American people have been asking for from Washington for a very, very long time. The qualifications of Judge Gorsuch are beyond dispute. He is the man of our country and a man who our country really needs and needs badly to ensure the rule of law and the rule of justice,” Trump said.

Noting that he would like to thank Senate leadership, Trump said he hoped both Democrats and Republicans can come together for once for the good of the country.

Gorsuch enjoys fishing, hiking, and skiing. He and his wife care for animals, including a horse, in the small barn at their home. As a young man, he delivered papers and worked as a front desk clerk at a Howard Johnson to make extra money.

“I pledge that if I am confirmed I will do all my powers permit to be a faithful servant of the Constitution and laws of this great country,” Gorsuch said in his remarks.

The Supreme Court’s work is vital not just to a region of the country, but to the whole, vital to the protection of the people’s liberties under law and to the continuity of our Constitution, the greatest charter of human liberty the world has ever known, he said.

IMAGE:Neil Gorsuch stands with his wife Marie Louise as U.S. President Donald Trump announces his nomination. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

House Speaker Paul Ryan said in Gorsuch, Trump had fulfilled his pledge to nominate a judge who has demonstrated loyalty to the Constitution and strong commitment to life.

“He is a phenomenal nominee for the Supreme Court. His belief in judicial restraint will serve the Court and the country very well,” he said.

“Congress and the American people don’t want a liberal Supreme Court justice or a conservative Supreme Court justice. We want a justice who will decide cases based on the law and the Constitution as they are written. Neil Gorsuch appears to fit that mould,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

The Democrats voiced their opposition to the nominee.

“Given his record, I have very serious doubts about Judge Gorsuch’s ability to meet this standard. Judge Gorsuch has repeatedly sided with corporations over working people, demonstrated a hostility toward women’s rights, and most troubling, hewed to an ideological approach to jurisprudence that makes me sceptical that he can be a strong, independent Justice on the Court,” said Senate Minority Leader Senator Charles Schumer.

“Make no mistake, Senate Democrats will not simply allow but require an exhaustive, robust, and comprehensive debate on Judge Gorsuch’s fitness to be a Supreme Court Justice,” he said, adding that the Senate must insist upon 60-votes for any Supreme Court nominee, a bar that was met by each of President Obama’s nominees.

Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said he had hoped that Trump would work in a bipartisan way to pick a mainstream nominee like Merrick Garland and bring the country together.

“Instead, he outsourced this process to far-right interest groups. This is no way to treat a co-equal branch of government, or to protect the independence of our Federal judiciary,” he said.

“We need a Supreme Court justice who will honour established precedent, including the constitutional right to privacy and Roe v Wade. That Justice is not Neil Gorsuch,” said Vicki Saporta president and CEO of National Abortion Federation.</s>Following President Donald Trump’s tweeted announcement he’d made a decision regarding his Supreme Court pick, a curious thing happened. Several unconfirmed Twitter accounts for Neil Gorsuch — a justice on the Denver, Colorado 10th Circuit Court of Appeals — appeared. By itself this is meaningless, but according to the potentially spurious profiles, Gorsuch was an “Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.” Seeing as how his name isn’t among the eight justices who’ve served since the death of Antonin Scalia in February 2016, what gives?

Turns out Gorsuch, whom the Denver Post describes as a “fourth-generation Coloradan and conservative jurist who has written against euthanasia and in favor of political term limits,” is Trump’s pick to fill Scalia’s vacancy. Former President Barack Obama tried to do the same with Merrick Garland in March, but the Republican-controlled Congress wouldn’t grant the judge a hearing. Senate Democrats promised to filibuster Trump’s nominee but seeing as how the GOP maintains the numbers, its success remains to be seen.

Whatever happens, here’s what you should know about Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch going forward.
President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court of the United States. Neil Gorsuch is the youngest nominee to the court in 25 years.