Tuesday night President Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch, 49, for Supreme Court justice. He's the youngest nominee in 25 years.
Now, he's in line to replace Antonin Scalia. Judge Gorsuch, a conservative and an appointee of President George W. Bush to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, is expected, if confirmed, to be a force on the bench for years to come.
"It's an opportunity for the president to influence the law well past the time that they're president, so presidents usually try to choose a very young, yet qualified nominee," dean of public affairs at the University of Baltimore, Dr. Roger Hartley said.
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As is the case with Gorsuch.
"Gorsuch is often considered to be a lot like Justice Scalia so essentially were replacing Scalia with Scalia in some respects. He is known to look at the original intent of the constitution, a much more restricted wording of the constitution," Hartley said.
The issues he'll have to tackle are some of the most important and controversial topics in the nation, such as voting rights, immigration reform, LGBTQ rights and abortion.
"It is a very difficult thing for a justice or judge to overturn 'Roe vs. Wade' and throw that decision back to the states," Hartley said.
Dana Robinson of Planned Parenthood of Maryland says the fight for women's rights will continue regardless.
"It's everybody's fight we're going to protect women's rights," she said. "We're going to stand up everywhere that it's possible to make sure that women have access to the healthcare that they need."
While "Roe vs. Wade" can't be overturned easily, the threat of tougher regulations is a reality.
"What they can do is to make regulations that make it more and more difficult for a woman who chooses an abortion to have one," Hartley said.
In the state of Maryland though, that right remains intact.
"There may have been some promises to overturn 'Roe v. Wade' but we are excited to be in Maryland because it was codified in 1992, so regardless if it's overturned by the Supreme Court it's going to remain safe and legal, abortion that is in Maryland. But it's a national fight so were going to try to protect access to safe and legal abortion across the country," Robinson said.
If Democrats decide to filibuster Gorsuch's nomination, his fate could be decided by Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell.
President Trump has encouraged McConnell to change the rules to make it impossible to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee.
