President Donald Trump announced conservative federal appeals judge Neil Gorsuch as his first nominee to fill the current Supreme Court vacancy at a press conference January 31.

“Depending on their age, Justices can be active for 50 years, and his or her decisions can last for a century or more, and can often be permanent,” Trump said regarding the position. He also said that he took this decision seriously and chose Gorsuch for having clearly defined traits he required in a supreme court Justice.

“Judge Gorsuch has outstanding legal skill, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline, and earned bipartisan support,” Trump said, introducing nominee Gorsuch.

Born and raised in Colorado, 49-year old Gorsuch, is the youngest Supreme Court nominee in 25 years. An alumni of Harvard, Oxford and Columbia, where he was a classmate of former President Barack Obama, he has most recently served as a judge on the Appeals Court for the Tenth Circuit since 2006.

Gorsuch began his legal career for judge David B. Sentelle, of United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the early 90’s, landing a clerkship right out of school. His clerkship for former Justice Byron White gave Gorsuch leeway to later clerk for current SCOTUS judge Anthony Kennedy. In his speech, Gorsuch reflected on both of those experiences and said working under such high profile judges has taught him “so much.”

“These judges brought me up in the law. Truly, I would not be here without them. Today is as much their day as it is mine,” Gorsuch said in his press speech following Trump. “As this process now moves to the Senate, I look forward with speaking with members from both sides of the aisle, to answering their questions and to hearing their concerns.”

Gorsuch has been described has an ideal, even eerily appropriate successor to the late Justice Scalia. SCOTUSBlog describes Gorsuch’s nomination as “downright eerie” in his parallels to his predecessor. These parallels between Gorsuch and Scalia have many critics predicting a return to form for the currently incomplete Supreme Court.

The supreme court nomination was a major concern from Democrats, both since Scalia’s death and since the start of 2016 Presidential Election. This could put the controversial issues of gun control, abortion, and gay marriage, which Trump once stated he plans to have repealed, in the hands of a conservative majority.

Scalia died mid-February of last year, and as of now, left a vacancy for over eleven months, the ninth longest supreme court vacancy in history.

While former President Obama nominated Merrick Garland in March of last year, obstruction from the majority Republican Senate, as well as focus garnered toward the impending election, derailed any consideration of a vote on the nomination.

Gorsuch’s next step is confirmation by the Senate. While the majority Republican body are expected to align with Trump’s nomination, Gorsuch’s bipartisan appeal and Trump’s call for unity between parties predicts support from Senate Democrats as well.