Lifetime Appointment: Trump Appoints Judge Gorsuch to Supreme Court

U.S. President Donald Trump has appointed Neil Gorsuch to a lifetime position on the Supreme Court, Reuters reports, carried by Patria. By choosing this 49-year-old judge from Colorado, the conservative majority will be renewed and help shape rulings in areas such as abortion, gun control, death penalty, and religious rights.

However, there is a possibility that the confirmation process of the appointment in the U.S. Senate may encounter obstacles, given that Republicans refused last year to consider a candidate appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, after conservative judge Antonin Scalia passed away in February 2016.   

Prominent Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer has made it known that his party will set up a procedural obstacle, requiring 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate, instead of allowing Gorsuch to be confirmed by a simple majority. He also expressed 'very serious doubts' about the candidate. At the same time, conservative groups and Republican senators consider him "outstanding" and "impressive".

Gorsuch, incidentally the son of a former Reagan administration official, is the youngest nominee for a position on the highest court in the U.S. in the last quarter-century, and could influence the direction of this court for decades to come.

- Judge Gorsuch has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, incredible discipline, and has earned the support of both parties, commented President Trump on his choice.

He then added that depending on age, judges can be active for up to 50 years. "And his or her decisions can last for a whole century, or even longer, and can be permanent," said Trump.

Gorsuch is considered a conservative intellectual, known for supporting religious rights and writing against euthanasia and assisted suicide, and is considered a mirror image of Scalia, the court's leading conservative voice for decades.