Judge Neil Gorsuch Hiring Practices: Privilege or Prejudice?

If there is truth to the time proven phrase that “a man is known by the company he keeps” how should Americans judge Neil Gorsuch, the man President Trump said is the perfect conservative to have a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court?

Judging from the company kept by Gorsuch in the form of the law clerks that he has hired, disturbing questions arise about the core character of this federal appeals court judge.

Those questions regarding Gorsuch’s hiring practices seemingly are of scant concern to the Senators on the Judiciary Committee now holding hearings on this Supreme Court nominee and the news media covering this nomination given the fact that those questions are ignored.

A review conducted by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law of persons hired by Judge Gorsuch to serve in the prestigious position of law clerks uncovered a disturbing pattern.

Law clerks are young lawyers, generally fresh out of law school, that perform critical duties for a judge from conducting legal research to performing initial reviews of cases the judge has to handle to writing drafts of the decisions on cases the judge will issue. In some ways, law clerks are mini-judges with power that exceeds the paucity of legal/life experience they possess.

Deep in the Lawyers Committee report on Gorsuch’s fitness to serve as a Supreme Court Justice, in the section on Judicial Diversity, is this alarming statement arising from the Committee’s review of 40 persons Gorsuch hired as clerks: “…we have found no evidence that suggests that Judge Gorsuch ever hired an African-American clerk.”

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