Trump attends investiture ceremony for Neil Gorsuch at Supreme Court
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump made a ceremonial visit to the Supreme Court on Thursday to mark Neil Gorsuch's rise to the bench.
CBS News' Jan Crawford reports that the off-camera event was a who's who of the Washington conservative legal establishment, from current White House officials to members of the Department of Justice, and with appearances by top White House lawyer Don McGahn along with his deputies, Rachel Brand and Makan Delrahim, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Members of Congress were also in attendance for the ceremony, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Texas Republican Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, as well as Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona.
The proceedings were brief and formal as a clerk read Gorsuch the commission and Justice Roberts delivered the oath, telling Gorsuch, "It is my pleasure to extend warm welcome."
After handshakes all around, Gorsuch took his seat and thanked his new colleagues. From his seat on the bench, Gorsuch did not appear to glance at Mr. Trump, seated down to his left.
Mr. Trump's appearance at the high court comes after yet another federal appeals court upheld a decision blocking Mr. Trump's revised travel ban.
The ruling from a unanimous three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dealt the administration another legal defeat as the Supreme Court considers a separate case on the issue. The judges say the president violated U.S. immigration law by discriminating against people based on their nationality and that Mr. Trump failed to show their entry into the country would hurt American interests.
They didn't rule on whether the travel ban violated the Constitution's ban on the government officially favoring or disfavoring any religion.
While Gorsuch has been a member of the court since his confirmation in April, he now formally fills the vacant seat left by Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February of 2016. The seat was left vacant for nearly 14 months after Senate Republicans refused to take up President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland.
CBS News' Jan Crawford contributed to this report.
