WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate has confirmed Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, in a 54-45 vote Friday. The victory gives Judge Gorsuch a lifetime spot on the court. Pennsylvania’s Congressional Delegation is reacting to the appointment.
U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) issued a statement saying, “I was proud to join a bipartisan majority of my colleagues in confirming Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States today. His record indicates that he has the character, intellect, and experience to make an excellent addition to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
The final confirmation vote came after Senate Republicans voted to eliminate the 60-vote filibuster threshold on Supreme Court nominees, which changed the final vote to a simple majority.
U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) voted no to Gorsuch today. In a statement issued last month Casey said, “I have serious concerns about Judge Grouch’s rigid and restrictive judicial philosophy, manifest in a number of opinions he has written on the 10th Circuit. It is a judicial philosophy that employs the narrowest possible reading of federal law and exercises extreme skepticism, even hostility, toward executive branch agencies.”
Judge Gorsuch will be the 113th Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, filling the opening left after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. (Sarah Benek)
