Sorry Neil Gorsuch – American judges are just as partisan as everyone else

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) (back to camera) swears in Judge Neil Gorsuch during the first day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearing.

Heather McGhee, president of the progressive public policy organization Demos, said Judge Gorsuch wouldn’t advance the kinds of campaign finance laws she wants to see, saying it “could return us to an era in which powerful interests ran roughshod over workers, consumers, and anyone without a large checkbook and financial megaphone of their own”. He clerked for Judge David B. Sentelle on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and then for Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.

While he didn’t explicitly say whether he agreed with it, he pointed to an appellate decision he made in a case involving A&E Networks and a prison inmate, who sued the network for airing a documentary that labeled him as a member of an Aryan Brotherhood gang when he was merely assisting them.

Trump has assailed the judiciary both as a candidate and since taking office on January 20. After a day of opening statements from the senators tasked with vetting the judge, the 49-year-old was questioned on his record, his political philosophy, and his views on President Trump.

“Senator, I would have walked out the door”, he replied during the tense exchange.

Democrats probed Gorsuch on whether he would be willing to hold Trump accountable. Presidential powers, torture, abortion. Though he defended the “originalist” approach, holding that the law should be read as it was understood when written, he said too little about what happens when the original meaning was in dispute at the time or is debatable now. “He is someone who nearly instinctively favors the powerful over the weak, corporations over working Americans”.

He stopped short of chastising Trump by name for the president’s criticisms of judges who ruled against him.

Even Gorsuch himself called it a “softball” question, answering that he would make decisions “based on what the laws and facts in the particular case require”. “He treats the parties and the trial judge’s rulings with respect”.

“There’s no such thing as a Republican judge or a Democratic judge”. Judge Gorsuch praised Garland for his work as a jurist, but wouldn’t comment on the partisan fight surrounding his confirmation, or lack thereof. I have to be honest with you.

Questioned about the Supreme Court’s ruling during his Wednesday hearing, Gorsuch argued he was merely applying a precedent from 1996 when ruling against Perkins and his family.

Democrats remain upset that Judge Merrick Garland-nominated by Obama to take over the seat vacated by the late Antonin Scalia-was not even given a hearing by the Republicans previous year. Questioned by Leahy, Gorsuch called Garland an “outstanding judge”, but refused to answer whether Obama’s nominee had been treated fairly by Senate Republicans.

Asked specifically about Roe v. Wade, Gorsuch said he recognized it as court precedent, but avoided discussing whether he agreed or disagreed with it.

He said the Supreme Court may “get wonky and technical” but said “what is at stake … is not at all abstract”.

Schumer’s announcement sets up a showdown over the fate of the Court, which has had a vacant seat since Scalia died more than a year ago, and the rules of the Senate.

The hearing will likely last more than 10 hours.

The Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on April 3, setting up a floor vote in the Senate later that week.

But the delicate issue opens the future possibility that Democrats in control of the Senate at some point would also be able to confirm a Supreme Court nominee with a simple majority vote.