Starting the day … Senate Democrats prep for aggressive attacks on Neil Gorsuch.
Kicking off the first round of questions: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley asks whether Gorsuch would be willing to rule against President Trump.
- “That’s a softball, Mr. Chairman,” Gorsuch said. “I am heartened by the support I have received from people who recognize there is no such thing as a Republican judge or Democratic judge.”
Gorsuch refuses to bite on Roe v. Wade:
- “Roe v. Wade is a precedent of the United States Supreme Court,” Gorsuch said. “It has been reaffirmed.”
Says the president does not have the “inherent authority to intercept” the communications of the American people.
- “Goodness, no.”
Downplays his ties to wealthy clients:
- Gorsuch said many of his clients supported his confirmation, not just the wealthy: “As I recall, all of my clients, or an awful lot of them, came out of the woodwork to say nice things.”
Impeaching Trump? Sen. Lindsey Graham asks:
GRAHAM: “If you start waterboarding people, you may get impeached. Is that a fair summary?”
GORSUCH: “Senator, the impeachment power belongs to this body.”
GRAHAM: “That’s even better. Would he be subject to prosecution?”
GORSUCH: “Senator, I’m not going to speculate.”
GRAHAM: “But he’s not above the law.”
GORSUCH: “No man is above the law. No man.”
The maternity leave question. After a former student claimed this week that Gorsuch once implied women used maternity leave to exploit their employers, Gorsuch addressed the issue head-on:
“There is one problem in the [textbook] … which asks the question, and it is directed to young women, because sadly, this is a reality they sometimes face, the problem is this: Suppose an older partner woman at the firm that you are interviewing at asks you if you intend to become pregnant soon.
What are your choices as a young person? You can say yes, tell the truth, hypothetical if it is true, and not get the job. And not be able to pay your debts. You can lie, maybe get the job, say no, that is a choice, too. It’s a hard choice. Or you can push back in some way, shape or form. And we talk about the pros and the cons in a Socratic dialogue so they can think through for themselves how they might answer that very difficult question.
Senator, I do ask for a show of hands, not about the question you asked, but about the following question, and I ask it of everybody: How many of you have had questions like this asked of you in the employment environment? An inappropriate question about your family planning.
I am shocked every year, senator, how many young women raise their hand. It’s disturbing to me. I knew this stuff happened when my mom was a young practicing lawyer, graduating law school in the 1960s. At age 20, she had to wait for a year to take the bar. I knew it happened with Justice O’Connor, couldn’t get a job as a lawyer when she graduated Stanford Law School and had to work as a secretary.
I am shocked it still happens every year, that I get women, not men, raising their hand to that question.
Concern for his family.
- “There’s a great deal about the process I regret,” Gorsuch said. “I regret putting my family through this.”
Outside interests — and Citizens United: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse asks Gorsuch about the funding for a $10 million campaign boosting his Supreme Court nomination.
- “Senator, that’s a policy question for this body,” Gorsuch said when questioned again about whether the Judiciary Committee should learn who is financing the outside campaign on his behalf. “It’d be a politics question. And I’m not, senator, with all respect going to get involved in politics.”
- “I come to it with an open mind,” Gorsuch said. “It’s not a question that I confess I’ve given a great deal of thought to.”
By the late afternoon, senators start getting punchy:
- Ted Cruz asks for the answer to “the ultimate question” from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” (it is 42).
- Ben Sasse admires the “SCOTUS bladder.”
- The “100 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck” question.
Trump’s “so-called judge” tweet after his travel ban was halted:
- Gorsuch said he found any attack on the integrity, honesty or motives of a federal judge “disheartening” and “demoralizing.”
- Gorsuch acknowledged he and Trump talked about abortion. Trump also told Gorsuch he was disappointed he lost Colorado in November.
