Gorsuch, 49, who has served for 10 years as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver, is a well-credentialed Republican and an outspoken conservative all the way back to his high school days. His writings on and off the bench show more of an ideological kinship with Scalia than the more-moderate justice for whom Gorsuch once worked, Anthony M. Kennedy.