JUDGE NEIL GORSUCH   A strict conservative similar to Justice Scalia   A STRICT CONSTITUTIONALISTJudge Neil Gorsuch, 49, is President Donald Trump s pick for appointment to the Supreme Court to fill the seat vacated a year ago by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. THE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP:BREAKING: Donald Trump reveals that his choice for US Supreme Court is Neil Gorsuch, 49 https://t.co/D91eYAcIMZ https://t.co/dbCiP2bP2U  CNN (@CNN) February 1, 2017Gorsuch has the typical pedigree of a high court justice. He graduated from Columbia, Harvard and Oxford, clerked for two Supreme Court justices and did a stint at the Department of Justice.Since 2006, he has served on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Denver, Colorado. His supporters note that he is an outdoorsman who fishes, hunts and skis. On the court, conservatives hope he could become the intellectual heir to Scalia, long the outspoken leader of the conservative bloc. The real appeal of Gorsuch nomination is he s likely to be the most effective conservative nominee in terms of winning over Anthony Kennedy and forging conservative decisions on the court,  said Jeffrey Rosen of the National Constitution Center.  He s unusual for his memorable writing style, the depth of his reading and his willingness to rethink constitutional principles from the ground up.Like Justice Scalia, he sometimes reaches results that favor liberals when he thinks the history or text of the Constitution or the law require it, especially in areas like criminal law or the rights of religious minorities, but unlike Scalia he s less willing to defer to regulations and might be more willing to second-guess Trump s regulatory decision. Read more: Politico 