LGBT rights groups are speaking out
against Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Appearing Tuesday from the East Room of
the White House, President Donald Trump announced his pick to replace
Justice Antonin Scalia, who died nearly a year ago.
“I have selected an individual whose
qualities define – really, and I mean closely define – what we're
looking for,” Trump said in introducing his pick. “Judge Gorsuch
has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline
and has earned bipartisan support.”
“The qualifications of Judge Gorsuch
are beyond dispute,” he later added.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, said in a blog post that it
was opposed to Gorsuch's nomination.
“The Supreme Court has played a
central role in advancing the promise of equality for LGBTQ
Americans, and Judge Gorsuch’s anti-equality record – from
opposing crucial medical treatment for a transgender person to
supporting a license to discriminate for private corporations –
make him unfit to sit on the nation’s highest court,” HRC
President Chad Griffin said. “We cannot afford a justice who will
roll back our rights, or who will be a rubber stamp for Donald
Trump’s unconstitutional actions. And America cannot afford to have
Judge Gorsuch on the Supreme Court. We oppose this nomination.”
As a member of the Tenth Circuit Court
of Appeals, Gorsuch joined the court's decision in Hobby Lobby
Stores v. Sebelius, which asserts that some for-profit
corporations may be exempt from a law based on its owners' religious
objections.
In 2015, Gorsuch joined a ruling
dismissing a transgender woman's claim that being denied consistent
access to hormone therapy while incarcerated was unconstitutional.
Equality California Executive Director
Rick Zbur said in a statement that Gorsuch's record “bodes ill for
LGBT people.”
“Judge Gorsuch gained national
attention for his opinions in two federal cases supporting an
employer’s right to refuse to pay for contraception as part of
employee health coverage if doing so violates the employer’s
religious beliefs. That bodes ill for LGBT people who are facing an
onslaught of laws sanctioning discrimination in the name of religious
liberty,” Zbur said. “Judge Gorsuch’s opinions in prior cases
such as Hobby Lobby leave us deeply concerned about his willingness
to uphold laws protecting LGBT people from bias, not to mention
protecting the separation of church and state.”
According to “judicial
common space” scores, Gorsuch sits ideologically to the right
of Scalia, with only Justice Clarence Thomas receiving a higher
conservative score.