An avid fly-fisher born in Colorado to the first female administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch has clear connections to the world of environmental law. Indeed, in the opening line of Scherer v. United States Forest Service, 653 F.3d 1241 (10th Cir. 2011), which affirmed the right of the U.S. Forest Service to charge visitors the right to access Mt. Evans in Colorado, Gorsuch declared that “everyone enjoys a trip to the mountains in the summertime.” While Gorsuch’s confirmation is far from certain given the current political climate, he has been widely praised by both conservatives and liberals as an independent thinker with clearly written opinions that draw in readers with their narrative style and wit.

Many similarities have already been drawn between Gorsuch and the late Justice Antonin Scalia, whom Gorsuch would replace on the bench after Scalia’s death over a year ago. Gorsuch has described Scalia as a “lion of the law” and is similarly viewed as a conservative jurist focused on principles of originalism and textualism. Like Scalia, if Gorsuch is confirmed, he will likely employ these principles with potential to create far-reaching effects in the areas of environmental and administrative law. Two U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit opinions authored by Gorsuch, discussed below, illustrate the influence we may see in these areas if Gorsuch is confirmed as the next Supreme Court justice.

Gorsuch’s Attack on ‘Chevron’ Deference

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