“As the book explains, the Supreme Court of the United States has held in Roe v. Wade that a fetus is not a person for purposes of the 14th Amendment and the book explains that”, Gorsuch answered. “I decide cases, I listen to the arguments, I read the briefs, and I listen to my colleagues and the lawyers in the well… keeping an open mind as much as I humanly can”.
Advertisement
“No, I wish I could”, Gorsuch responded. “Where you’re from influences your understanding of cultural and regional sensitivities, and the current makeup of the Supreme Court has an unmistakable lack of geographic diversity”, Flake said during the hearing.
“Senator, the impeachment power belongs to this body”, Gorsuch said, but when Graham followed up on whether Trump could be subject to prosecution, Gorsuch said: “No man is above the law, no man”.
Feinstein: “So you agree with it?”
Then, Graham turned his sights from Trump to his Democratic counterparts on Capitol Hill. Dick Durbin, who said a second woman brought the allegation to the committee.
Feinstein: Can you say yes or no?
Lindsey Graham of SC came on Day Two of Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing to fill the 13-month vacancy on the Supreme Court.
Gorsuch explained that he sometimes uses the question in his courtroom to “put [people] at ease”.
In a Twitter post during the hearing on Tuesday, Trump praised Gorsuch as “the kind of judge we need” for the high court.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, asked a question about Gorsuch’s independence and whether the Colorado judge would be able to rule against Trump, the president who selected him.
Schumer told The Daily Caller Tuesday that he does not have a number as to how many Democrats would support the idea supporting delaying Gorsuch, but said, “My view is very simple”.
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said that in light of Trump’s attacks on the judiciary in recent weeks, Gorsuch had a “special responsibility” to defend the courts’ independence at his hearing.
She added, “In our courtesy meeting, you said you have a heart”. After a day of opening statements from the senators tasked with vetting the judge, the 49-year-old was questioned on his record, his political philosophy, and his views on President Trump.
“You better believe I expect judicial decrees to be obeyed”, Gorsuch said.
In a lighter exchange with Gorsuch, Graham praised Trump’s choice.
The Senate’s Republican majority hopes to have Gorsuch confirmed by the full Senate before members begin a two-week break April 7. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) continued his consistent pleas against politicizing the judiciary process.
Advertisement
Democrats will be hard-pressed to stop Gorsuch given Republicans’ 52-48 control of the Senate. If they do attempt to block confirmation, Republicans could unilaterally change the rules to ban filibusters, an approach known as the “nuclear option”. “It would be a violation of the separation of powers and judicial independence if someone sitting at this table, in order to get confirmed, had to make promises or commitments about how they’d rule in a case that’s now pending and likely to make its way to the Supreme Court”. President Barack Obama nominated Garland to the Supreme Court a year ago, but Republicans refused to give him a hearing.
