Anne Gorsuch Burford
Anne Irene McGill Gorsuch Burford (/ˈɡɔːrsʌtʃ/ GOR-sutch; April 21, 1942 – July 18, 2004), also known as Anne M. Gorsuch, was an American attorney and politician. Between 1981 and 1983, while known as Anne M. Gorsuch, she served under President Ronald Reagan as the first female Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Her son is sitting Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Neil Gorsuch.
Anne Gorsuch Burford
Early life and education[edit]
Born Anne Irene McGill in Casper, Wyoming, Gorsuch grew up in Denver, where she attended St. Francis DeSales High School.[1]
During three consecutive summers, she took classes in Spanish at the National University of Mexico.[2] She studied at the University of Colorado at Boulder, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961 at the age of 19. She then attended the University of Colorado Law School where she received a Juris Doctor degree in 1964 at the age of 22; she became the youngest woman admitted to the Colorado Bar at the time.[1][2][3] McGill participated in the undergraduate Honors Program and Mortar Board society, and was an editor of the University of Colorado Law School's law review.[2] She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study criminal law for one year in Jaipur, India,[2] and she and her new husband David Gorsuch travelled there together.
Early legal and political career[edit]
Gorsuch was first employed as an attorney with a bank trust department, then as an assistant district attorney for Jefferson County, Colorado, and as deputy district attorney for the City of Denver, Colorado.[1] Subsequently she was a corporate attorney for Mountain Bell Telephone.[1] In 1975 she was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives, and served in office for two two-year terms. She was voted Outstanding Freshman Legislator, but was considered by some to be a member of the "House Crazies," a group of "conservative lawmakers intent on permanently changing government".[2][3][1]
In 1980, Gorsuch served on President-elect Reagan's transition team as a member of his Advisory Committee on Intergovernmental Relations.[2] Shortly after Reagan was inaugurated, Gorsuch was nominated as administrator of the EPA. The nomination was unanimously confirmed by the Senate three months later on May 5, 1981.[4]
Subsequent career[edit]
Gorsuch was promised another job by Reagan, and in July 1984, he appointed her to a three-year term as chair of the National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere, a move that was criticized by environmental groups.[14] She described the post as a "nothing-burger", and both the House and the Senate passed non-binding resolutions calling on President Reagan to withdraw the appointment. Ultimately, Gorsuch chose not to accept the position.[15]
After leaving government service, she wrote a 1986 book about her experiences titled Are You Tough Enough?[16] She then worked as a private attorney in Colorado until her death.[1]
Personal life[edit]
Anne McGill married David Gorsuch after finishing law school. They divorced in 1982 while she was serving as EPA Administrator. The couple had two sons, J. J. and Neil, and a daughter, Stephanie.[3] Neil Gorsuch became an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court in 2017.[17]
By Gorsuch's later account, her son Neil, who was then 15 years old, was furious with her when she resigned under pressure from the EPA. "You should never have resigned," he told his mother. "You didn't do anything wrong. You only did what the president ordered. Why are you quitting? You raised me not to be a quitter. Why are you a quitter?"[18]
In 1983, Gorsuch married Bureau of Land Management head and rancher Robert F. Burford, with whom she had previously served in the Colorado House of Representatives. A divorce from Burford was pending when he died in 1993.[1]
Gorsuch died from cancer in 2004 in Aurora, Colorado, aged 62.[19]