“You can bet that if the shoe was on the other foot – and a Democratic president was under investigation by the FBI – that Republicans would be howling at the moon about filling a Supreme Court seat in such circumstances”, Schumer said. “Gorsuch will be confirmed I just can’t tell you exactly how that will happen yet”.
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“I am my own man”, he added. At a rally in Tennessee, Trump said it was “an unprecedented judicial overreach”.
After two days of often hostile hearings, Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is proving himself an even-tempered, deeply knowledgeable nominee who should be confirmed by the Senate. “Okay, I’ll criticize judges”, Trump said as the Gorsuch hearing continued.
“In case President Trump is watching [the hearing]: if you start waterboarding people, you may get impeached”, warned Republican Lindsey Graham of SC before posing a question to Gorsuch.
“The courts are not helping us, to be honest, it’s ridiculous”.
Gorsuch adopted a solemn tone at times and tried to add dashes of levity at others, as he fielded gentle Republican questions and fended off Democratic queries on abortion rights, campaign finance and his previous decisions on administrative law and workers rights.
It remains unclear whether Democrats will try to block Mr Gorsuch’s confirmation.
To that point, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont told the committee he was not about to ” rubber stamp a nominee selected by extreme interest groups and nominated by a president who lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes”.
Tester said both the Democratic and Republican bases are exercised about the issue.
Gorsuch: “No man is above the law”. “Throughout the Senate’s history, approval of even the most controversial presidential nominations has required only a majority vote”.
“Anyone including the president of the United States?”
Thus, Gorsuch was “no ordinary nominee”, Cruz said.
Asked by CNN what the consequences would be if those red-state Democrats block Gorsuch, Alexander responded gently: “I think the outcome would be that independent voters, centrist voters who put them into office, would take a second look when they run for re-election”.
He said judges make half the people unhappy 100% of the time, and he did not question their motives.
Gorsuch did not offer much on that point, as he generally avoided any tinge of comment on potential future cases.
“I follow the law wherever it leads”, the judge responded.
Trump has publicly slammed the judges who halted his travel bans, prompting Gorsuch to call the remarks “demoralizing” and “disheartening.”
Judge Gorsuch used the case during his confirmation hearing to argue he would rule for any litigant, no matter who it was.
Unfortunately, some of my colleagues have taken their search for a political judge to new extremes this year.
If the Democrats stand firmly together and oppose Gorsuch, Republicans could reach for the “nuclear option” and change the Senate rules to allow confirmation by a simple majority vote.
The choice of a judge to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016, has been contentious.
Gorsuch’s position was furthered solidified under questioning from Sen.
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Gorsuch was asked how he’d deal with Trump asking him to overturn Roe v. Wade, the decision from decades ago that finds abortion to be constitutional. “Not from Harry Reid, or Ted Kennedy, or John Kerry”. Hirono said that the hearing over Gorsuch’s nomination was about “people in this country who are getting screwed every single stinking minute and hour of the day”.
