Tuesday’s top moments from the Neil Gorsuch confirmation hearings
Day two of confirmation hearings for Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, was eventful, as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned the federal judge from Colorado. Return to Yahoo on Wednesday for more live-streaming coverage of the hearings as they happen.
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Gorsuch: I would have ‘walked out the door’ if Trump had asked me to overturn Roe
WASHINGTON — Gorsuch said he was never asked by Trump to promise to overturn the landmark Supreme Court case protecting a woman’s right to an abortion and would have promptly walked out on the president if he had.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked Gorsuch on the second day of his confirmation hearing if the president had ever made Gorsuch promise to vote to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision if he were confirmed to the Supreme Court.
“No, sir,” Gorsuch replied. “Senator, I would have walked out the door. It’s not what judges do.”
Democratic senators have raised questions about whether Gorsuch passed a “litmus test” from Trump on abortion and gun rights. While a candidate, Trump promised to nominate an anti-abortion and pro-Second Amendment judge.
Gorsuch repeatedly insisted he was never asked to commit to rule a certain way on any case by the Trump administration and said he would be independent from the president if confirmed. READ/WATCH MORE — Liz Goodwin
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Gorsuch: Trump’s attacks on courts ‘disheartening,’ ‘demoralizing’
Gorsuch also repeated his earlier characterization of Trump’s attacks against the court system, calling the president’s barbs “disheartening” and “demoralizing.”
“I know these people and how decent they are, and when anyone criticizes the honesty or integrity or motives of a federal judge, I find that disheartening and I find that demoralizing,” Gorsuch said Tuesday.
Last month, Trump ignited a firestorm by repeatedly criticizing federal jurists who stymied his travel ban executive order. Among other things, Trump accused them of undermining U.S. national security with “ridiculous” legal logic.
The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017
What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 4, 2017
After Gorsuch met with U.S. senators ahead of his confirmation hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said that the Supreme Court nominee had called Trump’s attacks “disheartening” and “demoralizing” — the same words he used during his hearing.
Trump punched back by pointing to Blumenthal’s history of exaggerating his service during the Vietnam War and accusing the Connecticut lawmaker of taking Gorsuch’s comments out of context.
Yet according to former New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a leader on the White House team working to confirm Trump’s pick, Gorsuch indeed used those words to describe “any criticism of a judge’s integrity,” which Trump has indeed done.
“Judge Gorsuch has made it very clear in all of his discussions with senators, including Sen. Blumenthal, that he could not comment on any specific cases and that judicial ethics prevent him from commenting on political matters,” Ayotte said in a statement. “He has also emphasized the importance of an independent judiciary, and while he made clear that he was not referring to any specific case, he said that he finds any criticism of a judge’s integrity and independence disheartening and demoralizing.” — Colin Campbell
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Gorsuch: Same-sex marriage decision is ‘settled law’
WASHINGTON — Gorsuch referred to the Supreme Court’s recent same-sex marriage decision as “settled law,” using a stronger phrase than he has for other legal precedents.
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., asked Gorsuch to explain how his views on marriage equality have changed since 2004, when the George W. Bush administration was pushing for ballot initiatives that banned the practice in states.
Gorsuch replied that sharing his “personal views” would send a misleading signal to the American people that he might be inclined to rule one way or another on future cases that come up on the subject.
“It’s settled law?” Franken interrupted.
“It’s absolutely settled law,” Gorsuch replied. READ/WATCH MORE — Liz Goodwin
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‘Of course women could be president of the United States!’
Facing his sixth hour of questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing on Tuesday afternoon, Gorsuch seemed to get a little unnerved when he was asked by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., about his originalist interpretation of the Constitution — a document, Klobuchar noted, that refers to the president as male.
“When the Constitution refers 30-some-odd times as ‘his’ or ‘he’ when describing the president of the United States, you would see that as, ‘Well, back then they actually thought a woman could be president of the United States even though women didn’t have a right to vote’?” Klobuchar asked.
“Senator, I’m not looking to take us back to quill pens and horses and buggies,” Gorsuch said. “We live in the 21st century.”
Klobuchar then asked the 49-year-old federal judge from Colorado to answer her question. READ/WATCH MORE — Dylan Stableford
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Franken, Gorsuch and the Absurdity Doctrine
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., recalled his comedic past in a contentious exchange with Gorsuch during the judge’s confirmation hearing.
Franken was questioning Gorsuch on the case of Alphonse Maddin, a trucker who was fired after his trailer broke down in subzero temperatures. Gorsuch concluded in a dissent that it wasn’t illegal for the company to fire Maddin for seeking safety, writing that “it might be fair to ask whether TransAm’s decision was a wise or kind one, but it’s not our job to answer questions like that. Our only task is to decide whether the decision was an illegal one.”
The Maddin case had been mentioned by a number of Democratic senators during Monday’s hearing, But Franken invoked the story more pointedly and in cinematic detail.
“It is absurd to say that this company is in its rights to fire him because he made the choice of possibly dying from freezing to death or causing other people to die possibly by driving an unsafe vehicle,” said Franken, whose past work included an extended tenure at “Saturday Night Live.” “That’s absurd. I had a career in identifying absurdity, and I know it when I see it. And it makes me question your judgment.” READ/WATCH MORE — Christopher Wilson
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Gorsuch refuses to comment on legality of religious litmus test for entry to U.S.
WASHINGTON — Asked whether it would be legal to apply a religious litmus test to people entering the United States, Gorsuch said he was unable to comment since courts are currently litigating that issue.
“That’s an issue that’s currently being litigated actively, as you know,” Gorsuch responded to Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., declining to answer.
Gorsuch was referring to Trump’s travel ban, which critics say is a scaled-back version of his campaign promise to temporarily bar all Muslims from entering the U.S. The revised executive order, which has been blocked by a federal judge, would block visitors from six majority-Muslim countries. Trump has vowed to continue fighting for his travel ban.
Leahy then asked Gorsuch whether a “blanket religious test” — for example, that no Jewish people could enter the country — would be constitutional. READ/WATCH MORE — Liz Goodwin
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White House has no comment on Gorsuch not commenting on Roe v. Wade
WASHINGTON — During his campaign last year, Trump promised to appoint judges who would overturn the court decision legalizing abortion, Roe v. Wade. But how can he be sure which way his nominee, Gorsuch, would vote on such a case?
At his confirmation hearing, Gorsuch said he wasn’t asked by Trump how he would rule on abortion, and he would have walked “out the door” if the president had sought a commitment on the issue. In light of this seeming contradiction, Yahoo News asked White House press secretary Sean Spicer if the president is confident Gorsuch would overturn Roe v. Wade and whether Trump still holds to that as a requirement. Spicer declined to comment directly.
The press secretary cited the list of 21 potential appointees Trump presented during his campaign, which was compiled with the help of conservative organizations. Gorsuch was on the list, and Trump has indicated that any future Supreme Court picks would come from that group as well. READ/WATCH MORE — Hunter Walker
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Viral horse-sized duck question stumps Gorsuch
Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck? That’s a question Gorsuch couldn’t quite muster up an answer to.
Before moving on to more serious topics, Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., posed the popular hypothetical question to Gorsuch at the urging of his teenaged son Dallin.
“My family’s been texting me throughout this process, asking me to ask question that they would ask,” Flake said. “I asked a few of them for suggestions and my son Dallin, a teenager, said, ‘Ask him if he would rather fight a hundred duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck.’” READ/WATCH MORE — Michael Walsh
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