Amy Howe

Mar 2 2017

Supreme Court specialists send letter of support on Gorsuch nomination

This week 31 members of the Supreme Court bar — lawyers who argue regularly before the court — sent the Senate Judiciary Committee a letter expressing their “strong support” for Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s nominee to fill the vacancy left on the court by last year’s death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Characterizing themselves as holding “a broad range of political, policy, and jurisprudential views,” the signatories had unqualified praise for Gorsuch, whom they described (among other things) as “unfailingly polite” and “principled in his approach to the law, but also keenly aware of practical consequences.” Gorsuch possesses, the letter concluded, “the unusual combination of character, dedication, and intellect that would make him an asset to our Nation’s highest court.”

The signatories to the letter are listed in alphabetical order, beginning with Lisa Blatt of Arnold & Porter. But perhaps reflecting the broader dearth of women in private practice who appear at the court, only three other women signed the letter: Deanne Maynard of Morrison & Foerster, Kathleen Sullivan of Quinn Emmanuel, and Maureen Mahoney, a retired partner at Latham & Watkins.

Amy L Howe
Until September 2016, Amy served as the editor and reporter for SCOTUSblog, a blog devoted to coverage of the Supreme Court of the United States; she continues to serve as an independent contractor and reporter for SCOTUSblog. Before turning to full-time blogging, she served as counsel in over two dozen merits cases at the Supreme Court and argued two cases there. From 2004 until 2011, she co-taught Supreme Court litigation at Stanford Law School; from 2005 until 2013, she co-taught a similar class at Harvard Law School. She has also served as an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington College of Law and Vanderbilt Law School. Amy is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a master’s degree in Arab Studies and a law degree from Georgetown University.
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