WASHINGTON—Justice Neil Gorsuch gave brief remarks from the Rose Garden at the White House on Monday after taking his oath of office as the newest justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Immediately before administering the oath, Justice Anthony Kennedy spoke. He explained that Gorsuch had already taken one oath on Saturday, the oath to support and defend the Constitution, which is the same oath that every officer in all three branches of the government take (except the president, who takes a unique oath to the Constitution, specified in Article II of the Constitution).
But there is also a second oath that all federal judges must take. Kennedy explained this second oath, the one he was about to administer to Gorsuch during the ceremony. “Both of these oaths remind us that we as a people are bound together,” Kennedy said. “We as a people find our self-definition, our respect, our heritage, and our destiny in the Constitution.”
After being sworn in, Justice Gorsuch thanked his family, his former colleagues from the Tenth Circuit, President Donald Trump, and staff from the White House, Vice President Mike Pence’s team, and the Senate.
“To my new colleagues and the staff of the Supreme Court, thank you for the very warm welcome,” he continued. “I look forward to many happy years together.”
Gorsuch also thanked the Scalia family, adding with a voice full of emotion, “I won’t ever forget that the seat I inherit today is that of a very, very great man.”
Turning his attention to the American people, Justice Gorsuch quoted from the Gospel of Luke in the Bible that he is mindful that “to whom much is given, much will be expected.”
He concluded with a vow to the American people, “I promise you that I will do all my powers permit to be a faithful servant of the Constitution and laws of this great nation.”
Ken Klukowski is senior legal editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski.
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