Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, as favoring the powerful over the powerless.
The New York Democrat on Wednesday complained about Gorsuch’s ties to “secretive billionaire” Philip Anschutz and Chief Justice John Roberts. In a press conference with individuals Schumer said were hurt by Gorsuch’s decisions, Schumer said the federal appeals court judge “has an instinctive reaction to side with big special corporate interests over average folks.”
“These ties that Judge Gorsuch has to a secretive billionaire and the right-wing causes he supports are very troubling,” Schumer said. “The fact that he is eerily reminiscent of Judge Roberts, one of the most active right-wing judges we have seen, means that Judge Gorsuch has a lot of questions to answer for, and when it comes to our experience with Judge Roberts, we will not be fooled again.” (Anschutz owns the parent company of the Washington Examiner.)
“Judge Gorsuch’s record demonstrates he prefers CEOs over truck drivers, executives over employers and corporations over consumers. When Judge Gorsuch goes before the Judiciary Committee next week, he’ll have to answer for his decisions, not his empathetic words, but the decisions he wrote that favored the powerful over the powerless.”
Schumer was joined by Alphonse Maddin of Michigan, a trucker who Gorsuch ruled against as a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals judge, and Patricia Caplinger, who also lost a case before Gorsuch regarding her use of a medical device and the complications she developed from it.
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Schumer in railing against Gorsuch.
“In the days since I first met Judge Gorsuch, indeed at our first meeting, I have pressed him for answers on key clear questions that he has an obligation to clarify: workers’ protection, consumer rights, women’s healthcare, privacy rights, the independence of the judiciary,” Blumenthal said. “So far he has failed to be clear and forthcoming to any of us.”
Conservative allies of Gorsuch pushed back against the Democrats Wednesday.
“It seems Senator Schumer is more interested in creating gridlock and grandstanding with the far Left than studying Judge Gorsuch’s 200-plus opinions, most of those majority opinions,” said Carrie Severino, Judicial Crisis Network chief counsel. “Even in the few cases cherry-picked by Senator Schumer, his accusations fall flat because they often include unanimous opinions joined by Clinton-appointed judges.”
Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Gorsuch’s nomination begin Monday.
