WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement on the nomination of Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court:

“I strongly urge both Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to oppose the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court. The current vacancy was created artificially by Republicans who refused to recognize President Obama’s authority to nominate justices to the Supreme Court. Now Donald Trump, after losing the popular vote in an election undermined by the interference of the Russian government, has nominated an individual whose positions on basic points of law are completely inconsistent with the America that exists today.

“Judge Gorsuch describes the responsibility of judges to ‘focusing backward, not forward,’ to 1789. That approach fails to consider the enormous achievements of our nation since the Constitution was ratified. In 1789, millions of African Americans were held in bondage, and counted as three-fifths of a human. Women were defined as second-class citizens, and could not own property or vote. In 1789, the United States of America was not a democracy in a form that we would understand today.

“We know the man by his work. In the many opinions of Judge Gorsuch, women cannot obtain contraception and other reproductive health services through their health insurance. Agencies responsible for protecting our health and safety cannot easily implement regulations to eliminate problems. In Judge Gorsuch’s America, the racially-discriminatory death penalty will remain in practice. 

“I cannot recognize Judge Gorsuch’s America. Nor would most American families. I ask the Senate to fulfill its duty to the American people and reject Judge Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court.”