Judge Neil Gorsuch has been named as Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court.

The announcement on Tuesday evening at the White House was greeted joyfully by evangelicals, many of whom viewed the balance at America's top court as the key issue in the election.

Trump had vowed to pack the finely balanced court with conservatives and published a list of 21 names during his campaign.

Gorsuch, 49, emerged from that list and if approved by Senate will tilt the Court to a 5-4 conservative bias ahead of key rulings on gender neutral bathrooms, a business' right to deny gay couples services and gun laws.

Here are five facts you might not know about the new nominee:

1. He will be the only Protestant on the panel

An Episcopalian, Gorsuch was educated at the Jesuit-run Georgetown Preparatory School and was clerk for Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Catholic, after graduating from law school. But he is a member of the Anglican Episcopal Church in the US.

If he is approved by Senate, Gorsuch will be the only Protestant Christian on the nine seat panel which currently consists of five Catholic and three Jewish members.

2. He has a reputation for defending religious freedom

Gorsuch is particularly known for his decisions against the government on two major religious liberty cases.

He ruled in favour of the religious organisations in The Little Sisters of the Poor Vs Burwell and Hobby Lobby Vs Burwell. In both cases the religious group – one a Catholic order and the other an evangelical-owned craft store chain – sought exemptions from providing birth control under Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act. Gorsuch ruled the act violated their "sincerely held religious beliefs".

3. Gorsuch has never ruled in an abortion case

Despite Trump's promise to elect a "pro-life" candidate for the Supreme Court, Gorsuch has never actually issued a direct ruling in an abortion case.

But his record in favouring the pro-life religious groups and end of life matters have led pro-choice advocates he has "all the makings of an extreme anti-abortion justice".

David S Cohen, a board member of the pro-choice Abortion Care Network, said according to the Guardian: "He is devoted to originalism, has decried using the courts for social change, and has protected the rights of religious Christians to impose their views on everyone else.

"Whether he will vote to overturn Roe v Wade is unknown, but the signs don't point in the right direction." That of course would be the right direction for pro-life advocates.

4. He staunchly opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide

In line with both his Catholic upbringing and his Protestant faith, Gorsuch has sided with conservatives on the end-of-life issues of euthanasia and assisted suicide.

In his book The Future of Assisted Suicide and EuthanasiaGorsuch argued strongly for maintaining the status quo laws against both means of self-induced death.

3. At the tender age of 49, he will be the youngest Supreme Court judge

He is the youngest US Supreme Court nominee in more than 20 years since Republican President George W. Bush selected conservative Clarence Thomas in 1991, who was 43 at the time.

If approved he will also be the youngest judge at the Court with 56-year-old Justice Elena Kagan the closest in age to him in the current cohort.