ICYMI: Hatch Speaks Out on Gorsuch Nomination
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Following the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to serve on the United States Supreme Court, Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the senior member and former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke to print, TV, and radio outlets about Judge Gorsuch’s impeccable qualifications. Hatch also wrote about the criteria Senators and the American people should use in evaluating a nominee for the highest court in the land.
Hatch: Like Scalia, Gorsuch has shown steady devotion to Constitution
By Orrin Hatch
sltrib.com/opinion/4886727-155/hatch-like-scalia-gorsuch-has-shown
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump nominated Colorado federal judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia's seat on the Supreme Court. The president has made an inspired choice. Utahns should take heart that the man who will replace Scalia will be just as committed to the Constitution as his predecessor.
Time and again, Gorsuch has shown that he understands the proper role of a judge under our Constitution and believes that lawmaking authority resides with the people and their elected representatives, not unelected judges.
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The composition of the Supreme Court is an issue of profound importance to Utahns, and indeed, to all Americans. The justices decide questions that affect all our lives — from limits on federal power to the definition of fundamental societal institutions. It's essential, therefore, that justices understand their important but limited role under the Constitution. Scalia powerfully advocated and consistently followed the founders' vision in his judging. I have full confidence that Gorsuch will do the same.
Senator Orrin Hatch: Why Neil Gorsuch is the Right Choice
By Senator Orrin Hatch
As the intellectual architect of the effort to restore the judiciary to its proper role under the Constitution, Justice Scalia was a singularly influential jurist. To say that he leaves big shoes to fill is an understatement. Any worthy successor to Justice Scalia’s legacy must not only be committed to continuing his life’s work, but also capable of delivering the sort of intellectual leadership that Justice Scalia provided for decades.
Of all of the potential candidates for this vacancy, Neil Gorsuch stands out as the one best positioned to fill this role. His résumé can only be described as stellar: Columbia University, Oxford, Harvard Law School, clerkships on the D.C. Circuit and Supreme Court, a distinguished career in private practice and in the Department of Justice, and more than a decade of service on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Even among his many talented colleagues on the federal bench, Judge Gorsuch’s opinions consistently stand out for their clarity, thoughtfulness, and reasoning. In the words a colleague appointed by President Carter, Judge Gorsuch “writes opinions in a unique style that has more verve and vitality than any other judge I study on a regular basis.” That colleague continues: “Judge Gorsuch listens well and decides justly. His dissents are instructive rather than vitriolic. In sum, I think he is an excellent judicial craftsman.”
There can be no doubt that Judge Gorsuch has the credentials to be an effective member of the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, I have long held that no nominee’s résumé alone—no matter how sterling—should be considered sufficient to merit confirmation to the Supreme Court. Rather, we must also consider a nominee’s judicial philosophy.
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A good judge is not one we can depend on to produce particular policy outcomes. Rather, a good judge is one we can depend on to produce the outcomes the law and the Constitution prescribe. Neil Gorsuch is exactly that sort of judge, and deserves a smooth and speedy confirmation.
Washington Post: Volokh Conspiracy: Sen. Orrin Hatch on the Supreme Court: ‘Activist Justices have rewritten our laws’
Before our evaluation of the nominee begins, I wish to outline the principles that have guided me in assessing the qualifications of the last twelve Justices appointed to the Supreme Court. These same principles will guide me — and should guide my Senate colleagues and the public as well — in considering President Trump’s nominee. They are not new principles. Indeed, they come from the Constitution itself, which the Founders of our great nation wrote and ratified nearly 230 years ago.
The Constitution establishes a government of limited powers — one that promotes self-governance, is grounded in the rule of law, and ensures a proper separation of powers between three branches of government. Of these three branches, the judicial branch was expected to be — in the words of Alexander Hamilton — “the least dangerous” because it would lack power to control revenue or command the armed forces. Knowing that the Founders intended the judiciary to be limited in scope and influence helps us to better understand the type of judge who should serve on the Supreme Court.
Specifically, nominees to the Supreme Court must have a judicial philosophy of restraint and humility so that they view their role as limited to faithfully interpreting the law. It is not a Justice’s role to make or change laws by imposing his own policy preferences instead of what Congress actually passed. It is not her role to prejudge issues by looking beyond the text of the law to consider her personal views and feelings. And it is not a Justice’s role to choose winners and losers based on subjective beliefs that favor one group over another.
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In the days and weeks ahead, advocates and interest groups will say many things about the President’s nominee to the Supreme Court. They will want to know how the nominee will decide particular cases before those cases ever reach the Court to make sure the nominee is on the right team. Our nation’s Founders would have been embarrassed by such questions. Instead, the questions we ask should focus on whether the nominee will interpret and apply the law faithfully and neutrally, no matter what the issue is. That is, after all, what our Constitution demands.
Orrin Hatch: The right Supreme Court Justice for America
By Orrin Hatch
For the Deseret News
Unfortunately, past presidents have frequently appointed the wrong kind of judge — judges who do not respect the limits of their power and who interpret and apply the law according to their personal preferences. Rather than follow the law where it leads, they lead the law in the direction they want it to go.
These misguided judges often change the law by stealth, seeming to leave the words of statutes and the Constitution alone while changing their meaning. In doing so, they have expanded the power of the federal government over virtually all aspects of American life. At the same time, they have severely restricted the ability of the people and their elected representatives to decide important questions such as marriage, pornography or abortion. And by changing the meaning of the First Amendment, these judges have turned religious freedom inside out. They have even endangered these rights by restricting protections for the free exercise of religion.
This approach is wrong and dangerous not because of its results, but because of how it reaches those results. Regardless of whether any particular result produces good or bad policy, the political ends do not justify the judicial means. As Justice Scalia once said: “If you’re going to be a good and faithful judge, you have to resign yourself to the fact that you’re not always going to like the conclusions you reach.”
Many advocates of unrestrained judges will be using misleading clichés or code words such as “mainstream.” There is, however, nothing mainstream about judges who manipulate the Constitution, twist statutes or otherwise illegitimately impose their own priorities or preferences on the American people. There is nothing mainstream about judges who believe they can remake the law and the Constitution in their own image.
Justice Scalia once warned that if the Constitution’s meaning is determined by judges — rather than the people — the selection of judges becomes a political “hot potato,” a scenario in which “every time you need to appoint a new Supreme Court justice, you are going to have a mini-plebiscite on what the Constitution means.” An impartial judge knows that the Constitution already has a meaning, and that is the kind of judge America needs.
Senator Hatch on Fox News Happening Now: “I don’t see how Democrats can raise a legitimate issue against Gorsuch.”
Senator Hatch on For the Record, with Greta Van Susteren: “I don’t think they could have picked a better person to succeed Justice Scalia
Senator Hatch on America’s Newsroom: “You can’t find a better-qualified person for the Supreme Court than Judge Gorsuch”
KUER Radio West: Examining SCOTUS Nominee Neil Gorsuch
(from the 2:00 mark)
http://radiowest.kuer.org/post/examining-scotus-nominee-neil-gorsuch
KSL 5 News at 5: Utah Senator Orrin Hatch met with new supreme court nominee Neil Gorsuch
ABC 4: Good Morning Utah: While He was at the Capitol, Gorsuch met with Senator Hatch
2 News at 10:00pm: Senator Hatch said that Gorsuch is a standout choice
Hatch Applauds Trump Pick for Supreme Court
http://www.sltrib.com/news/4886682-155/utahs-hatch-applauds-trump-pick-for?fullpage=1
Washington • Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee offered their glove-in-hand support on Tuesday for the fight to confirm President Donald Trump's pick for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, whose rulings on religious freedom are easy talking points for conservatives eager for a court that continues a tilt in their direction.
Gorsuch, a judge on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Utah in its jurisdiction, has favored religious organizations in various cases, siding with Pleasant Grove in a battle to keep its Ten Commandments monument and for Utah Gov. Herbert to strip Planned Parenthood of its funding.
Trump's Supreme Court nominee wrote the dissent in the Utah reproductive-rights case that in July granted the group a preliminary injunction, nullifying a move by Herbert to block $272,000 of federal funds to the agency.
"It is undisputed," Gorsuch wrote, "that the governor was free as a matter of law to suspend the funding in question for this reason," namely in response to unsubstantiated videos that purported to show the clinics illegally selling fetal tissue.
Hatch, the former chairman of and longest-serving Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Lee joined Trump at the White House for the prime-time announcement.
"With Neil Gorsuch, the president has made a standout choice," Hatch said in a prepared statement. "Judge Gorsuch is one of the brightest stars on the federal bench, displaying a caliber of intellectual leadership that is rare even among the most qualified jurists."
Hatch — who has played a role in confirming 12 Supreme Court justices during his tenure, including all eight currently sitting on the bench — called Trump's nomination an "inspired choice."
Even in a victory lap of a high-court nomination that follows what Hatch is looking for, the senator took a stab at "liberal judges" in an op-ed in The Salt Lake Tribune.
"As many Utahns know, entrusting liberal judges to interpret our laws could threaten our very way of life," Hatch wrote. "With no regard for the values and freedoms we hold dear, these judges could drastically weaken laws protecting the sanctity of life, Second Amendment rights and religious liberty."
Hatch said that under such a liberal court, the Constitution would be subjected to a politically charged direction by "unelected judges."
"We cannot afford to put our most fundamental freedoms at risk," Hatch wrote, "by giving liberal judges free rein to distort our Constitution."
Deseret News: Utah Senator praises Supreme Court nominee
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865672296/Utah-senators-praise-Supreme-Court-nomination.html
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch was quick to praise the nomination of Gorsuch to the Supreme Court Tuesday evening.
“With Neil Gorsuch, the president has made a standout choice," Hatch said in a news release. "Throughout his career, he has consistently demonstrated an abiding understanding of a judge’s proper role: to ‘say what the law is,’ not what he might wish the law to be."
Hatch sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee that will hold hearings on the nomination.
Both Hatch and Lee committed to doing all they can to ensure Gorsuch is confirmed quickly by the Senate.
"If there is one man capable of filling the big shoes left by the late Justice Scalia, it is Neil Gorsuch," Hatch said. "I applaud the president’s inspired choice and will do everything in my power to ensure his confirmation. As the longest-serving current member of the Judiciary Committee, I look forward to helping lead a vigorous debate about the kind of justice that America needs.”
The Specrum: Hatch: Senate will confirm Gorsuch
By David Demille
http://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/2017/02/03/hatch-senate-confirm-gorsuch/97450110/
One way or another, the U.S. Senate is going to confirm President Donald Trump’s first nominee for the Supreme Court, and it’s going to be a good thing for Utah, Sen. Orrin Hatch said Friday.
Hatch, the longest-serving member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a telephone interview that he would find it “abhorrent” if senate Democrats follow through with threats to filibuster Neil Gorsuch’s appointment, and suggested he’d back Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s suggestion that Republican leaders would make sure the appointment goes through, “one way or another.”
“The president has the right to pick these nominees,” Hatch said, although he stopped short of using the phrase “nuclear option” that Trump used in urging McConnell and other Senate Republicans to change the body’s rules and do away with the filibuster.
The “nuclear option” refers to changing senate rules to require only a simple majority of votes to confirm nominees, instead of sticking to the agreement that 60 senators should be required to bring a vote to the senate floor. Doing so would allow the GOP to use its 52 votes to confirm Gorsuch without a single Democratic vote.
It would be a dramatic change in Senate tradition, but not completely unprecedented, Hatch noted, referencing Democratic Sen. Harry Reid’s use of the option in 2013 to push through then-president Barack Obama’s lower court and executive branch nominees.
Nearly a decade earlier, when Republicans controlled the Senate, McConnell, then majority whip, threatened to use the option to push through some of then-president George W. Bush’s nominees, although a bipartisan group of senators reached an alternative deal before the “nuclear option” was used.
Gorsuch, a judge on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, would replace the late Antonin Scalia, who died last February. The nation’s highest court has since had only eight members, with the GOP-led Senate having refused for months to hold confirmation hearings for Obama nominee Merrick Garland.
Hatch, who in the past had praised Garland and suggested he was qualified as a Supreme Court justice, joined Republican leaders in refusing to hold the hearings, saying the choice shouldn’t be made so close to a presidential election.
Gorsuch would be the perfect pick to reflect Utah values, Hatch said, suggesting he was as pleased with this nomination as any he’s seen come through the Senate - and Hatch has seen 12 justices confirmed in his 38-year senate tenure, including all eight active members of the bench.
Gorsuch’s most high-profile opinions have fallen on the conservative side of issues close to the hearts of a majority of Utahns, Hatch said, including defenses of religious liberties and criticism of federal rules and regulations.
The 10th Circuit includes Utah in its jurisdiction, and Gorsuch sided with the city of Pleasant Grove in a 2009 case over whether the town could have a monument to the Ten Commandments on public property, and he wrote the dissenting opinion last year when the appeals court granted a preliminary injunction to stop Gov. Gary Herbert from blocking federal funds going to Planned Parenthood.
Gorsuch also sided with religious organizations in two cases raised against the Affordable Care Act, ruling that employers should not be forced to provide contraception coverage without a copay if it went against their religious views.
In case after case, Gorsuch has backed state arguments against unreasonable federal rules and regulations, Hatch said, arguing that Gorsuch would lend a needed western perspective to the court as it considers regionally-important issues like public lands regulation.
“We now have a western judge who knows what it’s like to be walked-over by the federal government,” Hatch said, arguing that Gorsuch has consistently followed a Scalia-like commitment to interpreting laws rather than "substituting" his own views into decisions.
Daily Herald: Trump invites Orrin Hatch to attend Supreme Court nominee announcement
By Stacy Johnson
President Donald Trump will announce his pick for nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday evening, and Utah’s Sen. Orrin Hatch will be in attendance.
According to Hatch’s office, he was invited by Trump to attend the president’s announcement.
“Last week, Senator Hatch met with the President in the Oval Office for more than an hour to engage in a wide-ranging conversation on policy issues that included, among other things, a discussion of the President’s choices for the Supreme Court,” said Hatch’s office.
The announcement is expected at 5 p.m. Mountain Time at The White House.
Hatch Praises Supreme Court Nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch
By Utah Policy
Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the senior member and former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement on the President’s nomination of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States:
“With Neil Gorsuch, the President has made a standout choice. Judge Gorsuch is one of the brightest stars on the federal bench, displaying a caliber of intellectual leadership that is rare even among the most qualified jurists. Throughout his career, he has consistently demonstrated an abiding understanding of a judge’s proper role: to ‘say what the law is,’ not what he might wish the law to be. If there is one man capable of filling the big shoes left by the late Justice Scalia, it is Neil Gorsuch. I applaud the President’s inspired choice and will do everything in my power to ensure his confirmation. As the longest-serving current member of the Judiciary Committee, I look forward to helping lead a vigorous debate about the kind of justice that America needs.”
Senator Hatch has played a role in the confirmation of twelve Supreme Court justices, including all eight current members of the Court.
Washington Free Beacon: Hatch Praises Judge Gorsuch’s Nomination to Supreme Court
By Jack Heretik
http://freebeacon.com/politics/hatch-praises-judge-gorsuchs-nomination-supreme-court/
Sen. OrrinHatch (R., Utah) praised President Donald Trump's nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court on Tuesday night.
"With Neil Gorsuch, the president has made a standout choice," Hatch said. "Judge Gorsuch is one of the brightest stars on the federal bench, displaying a caliber of intellectual leadership that is rare even among the most qualified jurists."
"If there is one man capable of filling the big shoes left by the late Justice Scalia, it is Neil Gorsuch," Hatch continued.
Hatch went on to say that he would do whatever he could to advance Gorsuch's nomination to confirmation.
Hatch is the president pro tempore of the Senate and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Gorsuch serves on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Press Release: Hatch Praises Supreme Court Nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch
WASHINGTON, DC—Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the senior member and former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement on the President’s nomination of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States:
“With Neil Gorsuch, the President has made a standout choice. Judge Gorsuch is one of the brightest stars on the federal bench, displaying a caliber of intellectual leadership that is rare even among the most qualified jurists. Throughout his career, he has consistently demonstrated an abiding understanding of a judge’s proper role: to ‘say what the law is,’ not what he might wish the law to be. If there is one man capable of filling the big shoes left by the late Justice Scalia, it is Neil Gorsuch. I applaud the President’s inspired choice and will do everything in my power to ensure his confirmation. As the longest-serving current member of the Judiciary Committee, I look forward to helping lead a vigorous debate about the kind of justice that America needs.”
Senator Hatch has played a role in the confirmation of twelve Supreme Court justices, including all eight current members of the Court
Release: VIDEO: Hatch Meets with Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch
Washington, D.C.—This afternoon, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), the senior member and former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, met with Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court.
Last night, Senator Hatch attended President Trump’s announcement at the White House and praised Judge Gorsuch on video. He also met with the President in the Oval Office last week for more than an hour to engage in a wide-ranging conversation on policy issues that included, among other things, a discussion of the President’s choices for the Supreme Court. You can find out more about Senator Hatch’s White House visit by watching this video. Senator Hatch also wrote an op-ed about Judge Gorsuch’s qualifications in the Salt Lake Tribune.
