Neil Gorsuch is new Supreme Court justice

Neil Gorsuch is new Supreme Court justice The verdict is in. If confirmed, Neil Gorsuch will take the place of the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. For such an anticipated (प्रत्याशित) move, the appointment is unsurprising. Out of an original list of 21 potential candidates, three main contenders (दावेदार) had come into focus in recent weeks. Thomas Hardiman, Neil Gorsuch, and William Pryor

were considered the front-runners, with Hardiman and Gorsuch more favoured in the preceding (पूर्ववर्ती) days. After Trump took the stage, things moved quickly. Within a few minutes, Gorsuch was named and 15 minutes later, the entire affair was over.

Many liberals(उदारवादियों) view Gorsuch as the best possible outcome of a terrible situation. Being similar to Scalia, Gorsuch is not expected to radically shake up the recent balance of the Court. Currently, the eight sitting justices are evenly divided ideologically. Bader Ginsberg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan are Democratic appointments, while Roberts, Alito, Kennedy, and Thomas were Republican picks. Scalia, of course, was notoriously (कुख्यात)conservative(अपरिवर्तनवादी). 

In terms of the Court's makeup prior to Scalia’s death, the Court already leaned conservative in a 5-4 majority, with Kennedy acting as a swing vote. If Obama had succeeded in getting Merrick Garland on the bench, it would have been the first time since 1968 that the Supreme Court had a majority of Democrat-appointed justices.

Gorsuch, like the other finalists, is young. At 49, Gorsuch, if confirmed, will be the youngest on the bench by far, and the youngest confirmation in over 25 years. He is poised to be on the bench for decades to come, and will have a hand in shaping the Court, and the laws of the United States, for potentially generations to come. The ideological makeup of the Court is important because, while the Supreme Court has the power to expand people’s rights, it also has the ability to restrict them. In 1944, for example, the court upheld the internment of Japanese Americans in camps during the second World War. Although most people don’t give too much thought to the judicial branch on a regular basis, Supreme Court decisions deeply impact daily life. In the past, Supreme Court decisions have shaped laws regarding emancipation(मुक्ति) , segregation(अलगाव), abortion, religious liberty, free speech, police powers, political funding, and voting, to name a very few.

If no other seat opens on the Supreme Court during Trump’s administration, the Court will likely continue in a similar fashion as it did before Scalia’s death. Gorsuch is slightly more conservative, but stays true to Scalia’s profile. However, at least two justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony Kennedy, are in their eighties. Ruth Bader Ginsberg is known for her liberal stance, and Kennedy, while a Republican appointment, is moderate. Another liberal justice, Stephen Breyer, is also at the average retirement age of 78. If any of these justices are replaced by more conservative picks, the makeup of the court would alter drastically, resulting in a conservative block that could erase progressive gains made in recent years. If all three of them are replaced by Trump picks, the results could be catastrophic.