US President Donald Trump [official website] on Tuesday nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch [WH materials, POLITICO profile] of the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit [official website] to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia [JURIST report] on the US Supreme Court [official website]. Trump stated [NYT transcript]:

Judge Gorsuch has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline and has earned bipartisan support. … 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.

In response, Gorsuch thanked the president for “entrust[ing] me with a most solemn assignment.” Gorsuch honored the late Justice Scalia, whose widow was in attendance, calling him “a lion of the law.” Gorsuch now must wait for the Senate to initiate confirmation hearings. He stated that he looked forward to “speaking with members from both side of the aisle” and that he considers the US Senate to be “the greatest deliberative body in the world.”

Gorsuch was nominated to the Tenth Circuit by President George W. Bush on May 10, 2006. He was confirmed by voice vote on July 20, 2006, 95-0. He had previously gone to Columbia University for his undergrad where he graduated with honors. He then attended Harvard Law School as a Truman Scholar, where he also graduated with honors. He also received a Doctorate from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar. Gorsuch was a law clerk on the US Supreme Court for Justice Byron White and Justice Anthony Kennedy.