Gorsuch ducks on how he’d rule
He also called Trump’s attacks on federal judges “disheartening” and “demoralizing.”
Democrats lobbed questions at him regarding his views on campaign finance, gun rights and torture and other enhanced interrogation techniques — which Trump had vowed during the campaign to reinstate.
When asked how he would respond if Trump tried to bring back waterboarding, the use of which was banned, Gorsuch repeatedly responded by saying, “no man is above the law.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) asked Gorsuch, who worked as a lawyer in George W. Bush’s Justice Department, where he was involved in drafting anti-terror policies including guidance on interrogation tactics, about a 2005 memo that she alleged indicated he may have believed that such tactics were not illegal.
When Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the panel, asked Gorsuch if he felt those tactics were lawful, he declined to answer, citing the need to review letters the senator had mentioned.
Despite the testimony distancing himself from Trump, Gorsuch earned high marks for his performance from the White House.
“Judge Gorsuch is the kind of judge we need on #SCOTUS — someone with a brilliant legal mind & a commitment to constitutional principles,” Trump tweeted. Throughout the afternoon, he also posted a series of clips of the hearing, each one with the hashtag “#ConfirmGorsuch.”
White House press secretary Sean Spicer added during his daily press briefing that Gorsuch was “doing a phenomenal job” during his hearing.
Gorsuch’s first day of hearings on Monday was marred by bitter partisanship, as Democrats blasted their Republican counterparts for having refused to act last year on former President Barack Obama’s own nominee, Merrick Garland.
Obama had nominated Garland, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, for the role in March 2016, following the death of Antonin Scalia, but Senate Republicans refused to give him a confirmation hearing, in hopes of their party taking back the White House. Their gamble paid off when Trump won.
The Judiciary committee will vote on Gorsuch’s nomination April 3, with a full vote on the Senate floor expected later that week.