San Francisco Chronicle

Supreme Court:

- By Mark Sherman and Eric Werner Mark Sherman and Eric Werner are Associated Press writers.

Nominee Neil Gorsuch testifies to the Senate that he has made no promises about how he will rule.

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch declared Tuesday he’s made no promises to Donald Trump or anyone else about how he’ll vote on abortion or other issues and testified he’ll have no trouble as a justice holding anyone accountabl­e, including the president who picked him.

During the long second day of his Senate confirmati­on hearings, Gorsuch made two notable statements in response to questions from members of the Judiciary Committee, and both related to Trump, who nominated him.

Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina asked Gorsuch whether Trump had asked him to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the case establishi­ng a right to abortion, and what he would have done had Trump asked him to do so.

“Senator, I would have walked out the door,” Gorsuch replied. “That’s not what judges do.”

When Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy asked Gorsuch if a president is free to ignore laws on national security grounds, Gorsuch replied that “nobody is above the law in this country, and that includes the president of the United States.”

On a day mostly devoid of drama, Gorsuch batted away Democrats’ efforts to get him to reveal his views on abortion, guns and other controvers­ial issues, insisting he keeps “an open mind for the entire process” when he makes rulings. His comments were similar in response to questions from majority Republican­s as they tried to help him highlight his neutrality in the face of Democratic attempts to link him to Trump.

The abortion question was especially pointed because Trump himself has insisted he would appoint “pro-life justices” who would vote to overturn the 1973 Roe decision.

As Tuesday’s questionin­g wore on, senators and Gorsuch engaged in a routine wellestabl­ished in recent confirmati­on hearings. The nominee resists all requests to say how he feels about Supreme Court decisions, even as he is asked about them again and again. Such was the case with questions about rulings on campaign finance, abortion, gun rights, even a privacy ruling from 1965 that John Roberts explicitly endorsed in his confirmati­on hearing in 2005.

Gorsuch made one exception, describing the two-yearold decision extending samesex marriage nationwide as “settled law,” a term he did not apply to any other decision.

The 49-year-old Denver appeals court judge kept a smile on his face most of the day, although he seemed to show flashes of anger under questionin­g from some Democrats.

Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois pressed Gorsuch on claims by a former student at the University of Colorado Law School who said Gorsuch implied in a legal ethics class in April that he believes many female job applicants unfairly manipulate companies by hiding plans to begin families. She remembered him saying that many accept job offers but quickly leave with maternity benefits.

“Those are not my words and I would never have said them,” Gorsuch said. He later explained he was trying to teach students about inappropri­ate questions from prospectiv­e employers, not endorsing such inquiries.

Republican­s are unanimous in support of Gorsuch. Democrats remain incensed over how Republican­s treated former President Barack Obama’s nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, who was denied even a hearing last year after Antonin Scalia’s death created an opening on the high court.

Gorsuch declined a couple of invitation­s to tell senators how felt about the treatment of Garland, saying only “I think the world of Merrick Garland.”

 ?? Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images ?? Judge Neil Gorsuch resisted numerous requests from senators to offer opinions on past Supreme Court decisions.
Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images Judge Neil Gorsuch resisted numerous requests from senators to offer opinions on past Supreme Court decisions.

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