When Erik Gerding, associate dean for academic affairs and professor at the University of Colorado Law School, found out that one of his colleagues at the school had been nominated for the Supreme Court of the United States, the first thing he did was call him to discuss security and advise him that journalists were roaming the building and asking students to “report on his whereabouts in real time.”
“I was struck that his first and overriding concern was for the welfare of students,” Gerding recalled of Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald J. Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court.
“He didn’t want his potential nomination and the media circus to disrupt the classroom experience of his students,” Gerding said.
“When the vetting process heated up, I am sure he had many other things to worry about,” Gerding continued. “But he continued to teach. He worried about and helped arrange for another seasoned faculty member to be ready to teach his class should the nomination become a reality.”
Gerding said Gorsuch “demands a lot of students in the classroom and models how to analyze legal problems from all angles.”
Similar descriptions of Gorsuch are not hard to find among students at the law school.
“Judge Gorsuch was challenging and pushed students to think critically about ethics in our profession,” said Oscar Cobos, a University of Colorado Law School student who took a class on legal ethics with Professor Gorsuch last semester.
