Richmond litigator and appellate lawyer Brian Schmalzbach, who clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas before joining McGuireWoods in 2014, participated in two recent BBC Radio programs discussing the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a Jan. 30 BBC broadcast just before President Donald Trump nominated 10th Circuit Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the seat of Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in January 2016, Brian summarized the makeup and powers of the Supreme Court and its position in relation to the U.S. Congress. Given the even political split of the now eight-justice court, he said, the ninth justice “will have a major role in determining the direction of the United States, possibly for decades.”
He also briefly described the three individuals then on the nominee short list, including identifying Judge Gorsuch, with his “solid conservative bona fides,” as the frontrunner.
Schmalzbach’s segment in the broadcast begins at 02:24:45.
As part of a Nov. 3, 2016, speaker panel, also broadcast on BBC, Schmalzbach discussed the significance of the U.S. presidential election on the composition and direction of the high court.