Neil Gorsuch Stances On Assisted Suicide, Abortion And More Ahead Of Possible SCOTUS Nomination From Donald Trump

Colorado judge Neil Gorsuch will be President Donald Trump's highly-anticipated nomination for the Supreme Court, the Independent Journal Review reported Tuesday afternoon.

While Trump's pick was not announced at the time the report was published, the United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit appeared to be on the president's shortlist to fill the vacant seat of former Justice Antonin Scalia, who died nearly a year ago. Gorsuch and Pennsylvania's Thomas Hardiman were considered to be frontrunners for the position.

IJR quoted unnamed sources within the Trump administration about the report on Gorsuch, who was traveling to Washington, D.C., Tuesday.

As the U.S. waited for Trump to formally announce his choice, which was scheduled for later that evening, International Business Times has gathered some quick facts about Gorsuch.

1. He's a former classmate of Barack Obama.

Gorsuch studied at Harvard Law School at the same time as former President Barack Obama, and both graduated in 1991. Before that, Gorsuch attended Georgetown Preparatory High School in Bethesda, Maryland, and graduated with a bachelor's degree from Columbia University in New York City. After Harvard, he attended Oxford University in England on a Marshall scholarship.

2. His mother ran the EPA.

Gorsuch's mother, Anne Burford Gorsuch, was appointed head of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1981 by President Ronald Reagan. She was embroiled in a $1.6 billion scandal regarding a toxic waste superfund. She also fought Congress' demand to see the agency's records, which led to her being the first EPA director in history to be charged with contempt of Congress. She eventually gave up the records and resigned in 1983 before ultimately dying in 2004.

3. He is an opponent of assisted suicide and euthanasia

Gorsuch has been a vocal opponent of legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia, dedicating a book to the topic called "The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia," which was published in 2006. He has cited the complex moral and legal issues that such laws would bring as being the basis of his opposition.

4. He has not yet ruled on abortion, but is likely against it.

While he has never directly expressed his judicial opinion on abortion, many commentators have interpreted his views as being anti-abortion due to his stance on assisted suicide and euthanasia. He also ruled against the contraceptive mandate for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, on the landmark case Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius.

“It is not for secular courts to rewrite the religious complaint of a faithful adherent, or to decide whether a religious teaching about complicity imposes ‘too much’ moral disapproval on those only ‘indirectly’ assisting wrongful conduct,” Gorsuch wrote, according to the Denver Post.

5. He has supported term limits for Supreme Court justices

While Trump was reportedly considering appointing Gorsuch to a lifelong position, the Colorado judge has called term limits “constitutionally permissible” in the past. He made the statement in a 1992 paper for the Cato Institute in which he argued that a limit would avoid an abuse of power, much like the one in place for lawmakers.