Jeff Lamken, partner with MoloLamken, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearing of judge Neil Gorsuch to replace the late Antonin Scalia at the U.S. Supreme Court. March 23, 2017.
With the marathon Senate questioning of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch done, leading lawyers and judges stepped forward on Thursday to seal the deal on his behalf.
Alice Fisher of Latham & Watkins and MoloLamken’s Jeffrey Lamken showered praise on the nominee before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as did Deanell Tacha and Robert Henry, former Tenth Circuit colleagues of Gorsuch.
“A powerful, powerful intellect,” said Tacha, who served on the court with Gorsuch until 2011 when she became dean of Pepperdine University School of Law. Henry is now president of Oklahoma City University.
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Opponents of Gorsuch, mainly members of advocacy groups, also spoke, but the legal establishment was well represented among his supporters. Gorsuch had Big Law help at the beginning of the hearing on Monday as well, when Hogan Lovells partner Neal Katyal introduced him to the Senate. “I have seen Judge Gorsuch in action, hearing cases,” Katyal said. “And I have studied his written opinions. This is a first rate intellect, and a fair, and decent, man.”
Representatives of the American Bar Association began the day reporting on its highest “well qualified” rating of Gorsuch, based on dozens of interviews, and extensive research of his writings and an assessment of his integrity and temperament, not his political views.
“The overwhelming majority of those who provided input indicated that Judge Gorsuch is respectful, unbiased, and sensitive to the positions of litigants and their counsel,” said Nancy Degan of Baker Donelson in Louisiana, chair of the ABA’s standing committee on the federal judiciary.
She said that in his role as a judge, “He comports himself with deep humility” and has “unwavering commitment to the law. I find him a man of the highest personal integrity. He has a commitment to fairness and decency that will serve the Supreme Court well.”Latham & Watkins partner Alice Fisher spoke of Gorsuch’s “unlimited reserve of courtesy, kindness and good humor” as a mentor and friend as far back as 1991 when they were both summer associates at Sullivan & Cromwell. “It was almost as if he cared as much about my success as his own.”
Lamken, a veteran high court advocate, said he has known Gorsuch for more than 20 years. “I like to think I helped recruit him to the Kellogg Huber law firm after his Supreme Court clerkship and his time at Oxford,” Lamken said. “I think I may have edited the very first motion he wrote when he came to that firm.” Gorsuch practiced law at the firm now known as Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick from 1995 to 2005.
Lamken praised Gorsuch’s “great judgment,” adding, “In both the literal and figurative sense, he had gray hair from the start of his career.” Lamken said Gorsuch’s listening skills were also important. “He can be persuaded. That is, to my mind, one of the most essential attributes for a Supreme Court Justice in our system.”
Commenting on Gorsuch’s hearing thus far, Lamken concluded, “I have heard a lot of speculation in the past days and months about how Judge Gorsuch would decide particular matters. I don’t know how he might rule. I don’t think he knows.”
