January 24, 2017 12:49 PM UTC

Colorado Judge Among Final Two for Supreme Court Vacancy

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: According to the New York Times, Gorsuch and Pryor have emerged as the two finalists for the empty black robe. President Trump said today that he may make his choice public as soon as next week.

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Colorado has been well-represented in high-level positions at the White House over the last two decades, a trend that seemingly ended with President Trump. Both President Obama (Ken Salazar) and President Dubya Bush (Gale Norton) selected Coloradans as Interior Secretary, and President Clinton tapped former Denver Mayor Federico Pena as Transportation Secretary. Trump did not select a Colorado son or daughter for his cabinet, but as the Los Angeles Times reports, there may be a job opening on the Supreme Court:

Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, a highly regarded conservative jurist best known for upholding religious liberty rights in the legal battles over Obamacare, has emerged as a leading contender for President Trump’s first Supreme Court nomination.

Gorsuch, 49, was among 21 potential high court candidates circulated by Trump’s team during the campaign, but his stock has been rising lately as several admirers and supporters have been named to positions in the Trump administration.

He currently serves on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. A former clerk for Justice Byron White, also a Colorado native, and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, he served in the George W. Bush administration’s Justice Department.

In Gorsuch, supporters see a jurist who has strong academic credentials, a gift for clear writing and a devotion to deciding cases based on the original meaning of the Constitution and the text of statutes, as did the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

Gorsuch is not a new name in the discussion over the Supreme Court (though autocorrect does automatically change the word to “Grouch”). He was included in Trump’s pre-election list of potential justices, but as the Times writes, Gorsuch may be rising in Trumpland. Atlanta Judge William H. Pryor Jr. and Chicago Judge Diane Sykes were believed to be the frontrunners to be nominated to replace Antonin Scalia, whose sudden death last year left a vacancy that Senate Republicans refused to fill under President Obama, but Gorsuch appears to be emerging as a safer, less-controversial choice compared to Pryor or Sykes.