agencies
WASHINGTON
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated conservative appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, ensuring that -- if he is confirmed -- America's apex court will continue to lean right for the foreseeable future.
Trump himself pointed out that depending on their age, a justice can be active for 50 years and his or her decisions can last a century or more and can often be permanent" to illustrate the magnitude of the nomination. At 49, Gorsuch is the youngest judge nominated to the Supreme Court in quarter century after Justice Clarence Thomas was confirmed at 43, although both are a long way off from the storied Joseph Story, who was 32 at the time of his appointment in 1812.
Gorsuch is seen as an ideological heir to the conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, whose death caused the vacancy in the nine-member bench currently tied 4-4 between liberal and conservative justices. Republican lawmakers welcomed the Gorsuch nomination, but Democrats, who believe the nomination was "stolen" from them because the vacancy occurred during the Obama presidency have promised to put up a fight.
