By Sebastian Moronta Blanco, Staff Writer
I find it strange that the world’s poster-boy for a chance at success is also the place where the public has grown to dislike those who’ve succeeded (or had others succeed for them).
It seems today that if someone is rich and successful, they aren’t as fit for public office as someone who’s seen an average amount of success.
I see this everywhere, from fellow classmates chastising a friend for attending a public school, to hearing the word “smartass” thrown around when someone gets corrected in a public setting.
This also seems to be the main complaint for Trump’s Supreme Court pick.
Trump’s nomination is Judge Neil Gorsuch of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is 49 years old, and has attended Columbia University, received his law degree from Harvard, and a doctorate from Oxford.
In addition to his education, he clerked for two Supreme Court Justices, in Washington D.C., he clerked for the second most important appeals court in the nation. Colleagues, peers, and legal professionals who’ve worked with Gorsuch all speak to his wisdom and capability as a law man.
In 2006, he was nominated for a spot on the Federal Appeals Court and was confirmed unanimously, and was described as “unanimously well qualified” by the American Bar Association.
The biggest complaint? He’s too elite.
Trump ran on a campaign that shunned political insiders and vowed to famously “drain the swamp.” This nomination contradicts that promise, once again holding the Supreme Court to an Ivy League standard.
Here’s the thing: the Supreme Court should be made up of the most elite and educated members of our society, because their responsibility is one of the most important in the land, and I want only the absolute most qualified people in the land to do it.
Deliberating on the Constitution and deciding what Congress can’t do through it demands a brutally extensive understanding of the law.
I feel so strongly about this that I even think other offices in government should be held to the same standard of education and preparation to qualify them for those positions. Gorsuch’s nomination does more than put my mind at ease over the future, it gets me cautiously excited about Trump’s presidency.
Gorsuch is an extremely well-spoken conservative, which in itself is hard to come by these days.
The news shares no shortage of conservatives quoted in routinely ignoring evidence and facts on major topics, including climate change. Having a conservative voice who, for lack of a better description, thinks before they speak, is important to the balance of opposing ideologies in this country.
His beliefs are right-leaning, but a look at his decisions in court reveal that his primary and exclusive concern is how the law is applied, and his personal views are placed in the backseat, so to speak.
His most notable case, concerning a predominantly Christian company challenging a provision in the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) that required them to provide access to contraceptives to their employees, saw him favor the company.
He felt that the first amendment, and the first amendment alone, made it illegal for the government to compel individuals to defy their religious beliefs, whatever they were.
I agree, and for a specific reason. While I am firmly pro-choice and believe contraceptives should be made available to absolutely everyone who wants them, the Constitution makes it clear that everyone is free to pursue their own religious beliefs, and the ACA obstructed those individuals’ freedom to do so.
Overall, Gorsuch’s nomination proves to me that Donald Trump can make a decision for the good of the nation, and not just for the good of himself.
Gorsuch seems to be the most qualified person in the legal profession today to hold a Supreme Court seat, and after watching him nominate Betsy DeVos to the position of Secretary of Education, seeing him pick someone qualified gives me reassurance that he can seriously consider the decisions he makes, with an intelligent frame of mind.
Since he announced his campaign what seems like decades ago, I’ve been concerned with whether or not Donald Trump could do anything good for this country.
Now, I’m concerned whether he can do enough such that we’re still around when Kanye runs in 2020. That, however, remains to be seen.