Neil Gorsuch CC’88, who has been serving as a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, has been confirmed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Neil Gorsuch CC'88's yearbook photo Gorsuch joins nine Columbia University alumni who have served on the nation’s highest court, including three Columbia College alumni: John Jay, who graduated from King’s College (now Columbia College) in 1764 and was named the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by President George Washington in 1789; Samuel Blatchford CC 1837, who served as an associate justice from 1882 until his death in 1893; and Benjamin Cardozo CC 1889, who served as an associate justice from 1932 until his death in 1938.

“I want to congratulate Judge Neil Gorsuch on his confirmation to the United States Supreme Court,” said Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger. “His intellectual accomplishments, personal integrity and respect for judicial independence are matters we all acknowledge and value.”

Gorsuch graduated cum laude from the College in three years with a bachelor of arts in political science. While at Columbia, he co-founded The Federalist, which has since become a satirical student publication, and was a frequent contributor to the Columbia Spectator.

“It is an enormous accomplishment for a College alumnus to reach the highest level of success in his field, so we congratulate Neil Gorsuch on his appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States,” said James J. Valentini, dean of Columbia College and vice president for undergraduate education.

Gorsuch was nominated to his previous position in 2006 by former President George W. Bush. He holds a J.D. from Harvard Law and a D.Phil from Oxford. He was a law clerk for Hon. David B. Sentelle in the U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit (1991-1992), as well as a law clerk for Associate Justice Byron R. White and Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy in the Supreme Court of the United States (1993-1994). After 10 years in a private practice (1995-2005), Gorsuch served as a principal deputy to the associate attorney general and acting associate attorney general for the U.S Department of Justice (2005-2006).

In taking the bench, Gorsuch will be among the few former clerks to sit on the bench with the justice they worked for, and will also serve with a fellow University alumna, Ruth Bader Ginsburg LAW’59.