Judge Neil Gorsuch told senators Tuesday that he does not know what President Trump was thinking when tweeting about a “so-called judge.”
Trump tweeted the pejorative label at a judge who halted Trump’s original travel ban, prompting Trump’s tweet. Asked about Trump’s barb by Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination, Gorsuch declined to talk about the political ramifications of the remark.
“Judges have to be tough,” Gorsuch said. “We get called lots of names all over the place. We have to accept criticism with some humility. It makes us better. I take it from my teenage daughters, I take it from litigants.”
Gorsuch said he found any attack on the integrity, honesty or motives of a federal judge “disheartening” and “demoralizing.” Blumenthal pressed Gorsuch on whether the judge’s remarks applied to Trump, to which Gorsuch responded, “Anyone is anyone.”
