Minnesota jurists familiar with Neil Gorsuch, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge tapped by President Donald Trump for the Supreme Court on Tuesday, recalled a "brilliant" legal mind whose intellect could soften the blow of an unfavorable ruling.
During breaks in a jury trial he oversaw in Minneapolis on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz was able to monitor reports that Gorsuch, a close friend, was one of two candidates asked by Trump to travel to Washington for the president's unusual prime-time televised announcement.
"He is one of the smartest people I've ever met," Schiltz said of Gorsuch. "And he knows a lot about a lot, including not just law, but history and philosophy. He writes elegantly. Most of his opinions are easy even for laypersons to understand."
Schiltz and Gorsuch, each Harvard Law alumni, became friends after the two were appointed in 2010 to a committee that approves amendments to rules governing federal court proceedings. Schiltz said the two judges also recently agreed to "split" a law clerk who will work for Schiltz next year and Gorsuch in 2019.
Both judges were appointed to their respective positions by President George W. Bush. Gorsuch worked for two years in Bush's Justice Department before his appointment to his appeals court seat in Denver in 2006.
Trump's nomination of Gorsuch, 49, drew opposition from both advocates and elected officials who cited his role in the Hobby Lobby case, during which Gorsuch sided with plaintiffs raising religious objections to the Obama administration's requirements that employers provide health insurance that includes contraception for women.
In a statement late Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn, called Trump's nomination "an all-out attack on our rights as Americans."
"Make no mistake: Judge Gorsuch is a radical choice for the Supreme Court," McCollum said. "If confirmed, he will be a vote to end a woman's right to choose, reverse progress on LGBT rights, and champion the interests of big business over working families."
