Mitch McConnell: Neil Gorsuch 'will be

confirmed' for supreme court post

Democrats grilled nominee on final day of hearing on abortion and special education, as Senate
majority leader asserted that Gorsuch will be approved

Neil Gorsuch: When you put on the robe, you open your mind. Photograph: J Scott
Applewhite/AP

Associated Press
Wednesday 22 March 2017 19.59 GMTLast modified on Wednesday 22 March 2017 20.54
GMT

On a glide path toward confirmation, supreme court nominee Neil Gorsuch parried fresh attacks
from Democrats on Wednesday on abortion and special education, insisting that when you put
on the robe, you open your mind as he faced a final day before the Senate judiciary committee.

Frustrated Democrats, unable to get much out of the Denver-based appeals court judge over 11
hours of questioning a day earlier, suggested they might not vote to confirm him early next
month. Regardless, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, has made clear this week that
he will see that Gorsuch is confirmed one way or another in the GOP-controlled Senate.
Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, top Democrat on the judiciary committee, gave voice to
widespread Democratic complaints on Wednesday about Gorsuch, Donald Trumps pick for the
court.
Gorsuch has said repeatedly that he would adhere to the rule of law and respect the
independence of the judiciary, but he has refused to address specifics on any number of issues,
from abortion and guns, to allowing cameras in the courtroom, to the treatment of the federal
judge nominated last year to the supreme court vacancy but denied a hearing by Republicans.
What worries me is you have been very much able to avoid any specificity like no one I have
ever seen before, Feinstein told Gorsuch. And maybe thats a virtue, I dont know. But for us
on this side, knowing where you stand on major questions of the day is really important, and so
thats why we pressed and pressed.
Gorsuch repeated his general commitments to adhering faithfully to precedent, the law and
independence.
I care about the law, I care deeply about the law and an independent judiciary and following the
rules of the law, he told Feinstein. And thats the commitment I can make to you, I cant
promise you more and I cant guarantee you any less.
Feinstein pressed Gorsuch on the issue of abortion and the possibility the Roe v Wade decision
legalizing it could be overturned: This is real life, and young women take everything for granted
today and all of that could be struck out with one decision.

Gorsuch replied, All I can promise you is that I will exercise the care and consideration, due
precedent, that a good judge is supposed to.
The hearing took place against the backdrop of the turmoil of Trumps young presidency.
Democrats including the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, are demanding a pause in
Gorsuchs nomination pending the FBI investigation of alleged ties between Trumps
presidential campaign and Russia. The judiciary committee chairman, Chuck Grassley of Iowa,
dismissed that as ridiculous, and McConnell told the Associated Press: Gorsuch will be
confirmed. I just cant tell you exactly how that will happen yet.
For Republicans, Gorsuchs nomination is a bright spot that could go far to compensate for
Trumps various other missteps and misstatements.
I think President Trump, with all of his problems and all of his mistakes, chose wisely when it
came to this man, the South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham declared at Wednesdays
hearing.
Under questioning from Graham, Gorsuch repeated statements he had made publicly for the
first time on Tuesday, that he was disheartened and demoralized by Trumps attacks on the
judiciary, including the federal judges who blocked the presidents refugee travel ban.
And when Senator Patrick Leahy pressed him on whether the president could ignore a court
order, Gorsuch replied: You better believe I expect judicial decrees to be obeyed.
Gorsuch, 49, has spent more than a decade on the 10th US circuit court of appeals in Denver,
and would fill the 13-month vacancy on the supreme court created by the death of Antonin
Scalia last year.

The confirmation hearing will wrap up with a panel of outside witnesses talking about Gorsuch,
before a committee vote expected on 3 April and a Senate floor vote later that same week.
Republicans control the Senate 52-48 so would require eight Democrats to move Gorsuch past
procedural hurdles, and thus far no Democrat has said they will support the judge. But
McConnell could also change Senate rules to confirm Gorsuch with a simple minority, and
appears prepared to take that step.
As Wednesdays hearing began, Grassley raised an opinion Gorsuch had written related to
special education programs at public schools.
Shortly after that exchange, in an odd coincidence, the supreme court handed down an opinion
in a separate but related case that unanimously overturned Gorsuchs reasoning. The high court
said that public schools that offer special education programs must meet higher standards in
educating learning-disabled students.
Questioned by the Democratic senator Richard Durbin, Gorsuch said he had only just been given
the supreme court ruling on the way to the bathroom, and he defended his earlier opinion,
saying he was following earlier supreme court and 10th circuit cases.
But Durbin suggested Gorsuch had gone further than what was required and lowered the bar for
public schools to comply with the federal law on special education.
Why in your early decision did you want to lower the bar so low? Durbin asked.
I was wrong, senator, I was wrong because I was bound by circuit court precedent, Gorsuch
said. And Im sorry.