Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell argued Monday that Democrats are requiring a “special test” for Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch that conflicts with a standard set by Ruth Bader Ginsburg during her confirmation hearing.
McConnell, R-Ky., said Democrats are demanding Gorsuch, a federal appellate judge, prove his judicial independence by giving them “drive-by legal conclusions” that would signal how he would rule on key issues.
“This new special test and special obligation are not about ensuring Gorsuch’s judicial independence, but is about compromising it,” McConnell said. “In the upside-down world of my Democratic friends, judge Gorsuch must lose his his judicial independence as a sitting circuit court judge and future Supreme Court Justice in order to prove his judicial independence.”
Democrats are demanding a 60-vote procedural hurdle for Gorsuch, and many Democratic lawmakers said they are skeptical of his nomination, while some have already announced their opposition.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to hold a confirmation hearing in March. McConnell said Democrats should not expect Gorsuch to declare how he would rule on specific cases.
He pointed to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s confirmation hearing in 1993, when, he said, she set the standard for nominees to maintain their independence on the high court by refusing to give specifics on how they might rule on specific cases.
“I do not want to give here any hints,” Ginsburg said when asked how she would rule on abortion cases. “I cannot say one word on that subject that would not violate what I said would have to be my rules about.”
McConnell said Supreme Court nominees who followed Ginsburg also declined to declare their position on specific issues. McConnell said Democrats “are in a pickle” because they cannot find a reason to oppose Gorsuch on the merits of his qualifications and are instead employing a “double standard,” with Gorsuch.
The Ginsburg standard will continue with Gorsuch, McConnell said. “No hints, no forecasts, no previews. Fair consideration and an up or down vote,” he said.
