President Trump finally reveals his much-anticipated choice to replace Justice Antonin Scalia

AP Photo/Paul Sancya

Nearly a year after the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court might once again see nine members.

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Speaking from the White House on Tuesday evening, President Trump announced that he had appointed Denver-based appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the empty seat.

Gorsuch, aged 49, was appointed and confirmed to the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals by former President George W. Bush in 2006. The conservative justice was a former Harvard Law school student alongside former President Obama.

RELATED: Antonin Scalia had a civil libertarian streak

Justice Antonin Scalia passed away last year during a weekend hunting trip in Texas. The Ronald Reagan-appointed justice died during Obama’s tenure, leading to an intense fight between the executive and congressional Republicans as President Obama raced to fill the position with one of his nominees.

Obama appointed Judge Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in March. Shortly after Scalia’s death, congressional Republicans vowed to ignore Obama’s appointment. Amid political back-and-forth and accusations of hypocrisy over appointing justices between two presidential terms, congressional Republicans were quite satisfied Garland’s chances were shot down.

With the delay, the task of filling the empty court seat has fallen on Trump.

Now it’s Congressional Democrats who are promising to block the nomination any way they can.

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