Dozens of people rallied at the Byron White Federal Courthouse in Denver Thursday to speak out against President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.
ProgressNow Colorado Director Ian Silverii said although Gorsuch is a Colorado native, he is “badly out of step with Colorado values.”
Gorsuch is known for his ruling in the landmark Hobby Lobby case, which allowed some corporations to deny their employees coverage for contraceptives based on religious beliefs. The decision was criticized for the prioritizing religious beliefs of a corporation over the medical needs of actual living people.
NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado Political Director Gena Ozols says his record shows him to be a foe of Colorado women and reproductive rights. She highlighted his apparent support for “personhood,” which confers legal rights to a fertilized egg, a policy that would threaten abortion rights.
“This is a pro-choice state that supports the constitutional right to abortion enshrined in Roe v. Wade,” Ozols said. “If you cannot support Roe, we cannot support you.”
Gorsuch has been endorsed by the anti-LGBTQ extremist group The National Organization for Marriage, raising concerns that he would oppose the recent Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality as well.
Silverii also drew attention to information that emerged yesterday about Gorsuch’s past at the elite all-boys Georgetown Preparatory school, where Gorsuch founded and led a club called “Fascism Forever.”
The nominee will replace the late Antonin Scalia, whose seat was hotly contested during the end of Barack Obama’s presidency when Senate Republicans blocked the president’s pick, Merrick Garland.
Democrats say the seat was stolen from Obama, a sentiment that was heard loud and clear at today’s rally.
