Almost exactly one year ago today, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died in his sleep. In response to the death, former President Barack Obama presented Merrick Garland, a judge who was actually very moderate. No doubt this was Obama’s intention, get someone in who both sides can agree on and meet the Republicans halfway. However that’s not what happened, Garland’s nomination was met with heavy resistance.

Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell obstructed the former President until the end of his term. Republicans simply wouldn’t even converse with Garland in opposition to Obama’s nomination. This is all because the Supreme Court consists of nine judges. When Justice Scalia passed, the amount of judges went down to 8. This created a problem due to that there are now four Democratic Judges, and four Republican Judges. So the chance for a tie in any decision making skyrockets. McConnell’s clear objective was to block any of Obama’s potentially democratic judges so that the Republicans could send in a conservative judge with the new presidency. Allowing Republicans to always have that crucial winning vote when it came to court rulings. Now it seems that Mitch McConnell’s scheme has finally come to fruition.

What was originally thought to be a simple nomination turned into a total stalemate between Democrats and Republicans. Not much later, Obama’s term was up and Donald Trump was in. Garland’s chances of replacing Scalia had been crushed.

On Feb. 1, President Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch as the new Supreme Court justice. What came as a bit of a surprise was that Gorsuch is actually well qualified for the position. Trump has had a bit of a history of nominating people for the wrong job lately, but Gorsuch isn’t one of them. Gorsuch graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991. Strangely enough Obama was one of his classmates. He later received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in law from Oxford in 2004.

Gorsuch has had ties to the U.S. Government for awhile now. His mother Anne Gorsuch Buford, was the first woman to head the United States Environmental Protection Agency and was appointed by Ronald Reagan.

Gorsuch also worked as a judicial clerk for Supreme Court Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy in 1993 and 1994. In May of 2006, President George W. Bush nominated Gorsuch to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He has remained there since.

Gorsuch’s views have always been traditional. He has a strong belief in interpreting the Constitution in its original state. As simple as this is it can occasionally cause problems. Times have most definitely changed since the Constitution’s inception in 1787. This includes protecting the rights of politicians, one of which is allowing money to be given to politicians while campaigning. These are the kinds of things that could be included in a traditionalist’s point of view.

Gorsuch has always kept morals close to him as well, especially when it comes to death. When he received his doctor of philosophy it was because of research he did on assisted suicide and euthanasia. In 2006 he published a book titled “The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia.” Gorsuch is strongly against the idea of anybody putting anyone else to death for any circumstance. He states in his book that “Human life is fundamentally and inherently valuable.” He also says “The intentional taking of human life by private persons is always wrong.”

Democrats certainly have a bone to pick with this nomination since the rejection of Merrick Garland. Some Democrats even say they will only accept Garland due to the fact that they believe the nomination was stolen from them.

. However, the Republicans hold the majority in both chambers, and Democrats will have an uphill battle to face. Gorsuch will most likely become the next Supreme Court justice. It may be a wise move for the Democrats to try and talk with Gorsuch heavily before he is elected. Democrats also have the option of the filibuster but most likely McConnell will destroy it after they use it. So Democrats are in a tight spot. Do they use the filibuster in hopes to stop Gorsuch, or do they accept it and save the filibuster? Either way there’s nothing really stopping McConnell from destroying the filibuster anyways.  Only time will tell, and hopefully if Gorsuch is elected he will always have America’s best interest at heart.