Washington, DC – Constitutional Accountability Center has tracked and analyzed the performance of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in business cases at the U.S. Supreme Court every year, and on a continuing basis, since 2010. Ahead of hearings on President Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, expected to begin in the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 20, CAC is now releasing its analysis of the business community’s reaction to Gorsuch’s record in an Issue Brief titled Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch: Expected by Big Business to be Another Reliable Vote on the Roberts Court.

“The business community could hardly have been more enthusiastic about Judge Gorsuch’s nomination,” said CAC Vice President, and author of the Issue Brief, Judith E. Schaeffer. “In fact, corporate interests including the Chamber, the National Federation of Independent Business, and others have done the Senate and the American people a favor. They have looked at Judge Gorsuch’s record and made a strong case for why President Trump’s pick, if confirmed, would likely extend the great success rate that big business has had in the Roberts Court. We find it hard to disagree with their assessment – though for us it raises concerns, not cause for cheer.”

The Issue Brief examines the business community’s assessment of Gorsuch’s record, places that in the context of the remarkable success that corporate interests have enjoyed since Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito joined the Court, and considers key business cases in which Gorsuch has participated while a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

CAC President Elizabeth Wydra said, “Judge Gorsuch will bear a heavy burden of proof in the Judiciary Committee this month. In addition to other issue areas, Senators should carefully question him about his record in business cases. That Gorsuch’s record has been lauded by major corporate interest groups across the board raises the troubling prospect that, as a Justice, he would continue to deploy his cramped reading of laws and regulations that often suits the bottom line of businesses over the interests of hardworking Americans victimized by corporate wrongdoing. The Chamber of Commerce has won nearly 70% of its cases in the Roberts Court. The American people deserve to know whether President Trump’s nominee, if confirmed, would help corporations pick up where they left off after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, as they are expecting. We need a Justice who will apply the law fairly to all, and not show special solicitude for big business.”

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Resources:

Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch: Expected by Big Business to be Another Reliable Vote on the Roberts Court, CAC Issue Brief, Judith E. Schaeffer, March 10, 2017: http://theusconstitution.org/sites/default/files/CAC-Gorsuch-And-Business.pdf

“Corporations and the Supreme Court,” CAC resource on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s performance at the Supreme Court: http://theusconstitution.org/corporations-and-supreme-court

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Constitutional Accountability Center (www.theusconstitution.org) is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history.

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