Here's What Gorsuch Thinks About Gay Marriage

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced his nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court: Neil Gorsuch. With a potential new justice is the possibility of a new dynamic to the court, especially considering it is currently split between three conservative, four liberal, and one swing vote justice. Trump's pick will have to go through the confirmation process, and will face questions from Congress on various topics. With a Republican-controlled government and the potential conservative cases to reach the Supreme Court this year, you may be wondering: Does Gorsuch support gay marriage?

During his campaign, Trump said that he would appoint a conservative justice to replace the late Antonin Scalia, who would be pro-life, uphold the Second Amendment, and interpret the Constitution according to the meaning from the founders. As LGBTQ Nation pointed out, though Gorsuch hasn't presided over any cases specifically related to gay marriage, he did once write that it was a "liberal" issue. He wrote:

"... American liberals have become addicted to the courtroom, relying on judges and lawyers rather than elected leaders and the ballot box, as the primary means of effecting their social agenda on everything from gay marriage to assisted suicide to the use of vouchers for private-school education ..."

Just because Gorsuch has been nominated, doesn't mean he'll necessarily be confirmed, or quickly. Supreme Court nominations still have to have confirmation hearings by the Senate judiciary, and then the nomination must be held to a vote in the Senate. This is how President Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland in 2016 did not go through. Senate Republicans, who held a majority, blocked the hearing and confirmation.

NBC reported that since 1975, the average wait time for a justice to be confirmed was about 67 days. However, former justice John Paul Stevens was confirmed in just 19 days. How quickly Trump's pick will move through the process will most likely be up to the Senate Republicans. Chances are that they'll want to prioritize his hearing, though, to get the vacant seat filled.

Some Democrats, on the other hand, have vowed to filibuster many or all of Trump's nominees. Senator Chuck Schumer announced he would fight any nominee who wasn't mainstream, and Jeff Merkley said he would filibuster anyone besides Garland.

We'll have to wait to see what happens to Trump's pick once the confirmation hearing gets under way, but it's pretty safe to say that Democrats aren't happy with the choice and will push back against the decision.