Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Thursday that President Trump is hurting the chances of getting his Supreme Court pick confirmed by the Senate by harassing judges over decisions when he disagrees with them.
Democrats seemed likely to oppose Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to begin with. But Trump’s attack against a judge who ruled against his executive order on immigration has given Democrats another reason to oppose Gorsuch.
Democrat Sen. @ChrisCoons: Trump’s travel ban could hurt his Supreme Court nominee’s chances in the Upper Chamber https://t.co/L4PLFcnQWI
— New Day (@NewDay) February 9, 2017
Trump last week called Judge James Robart a “so-called judge” after Robart imposed a stay on his order.
“President Trump not responding well to a challenge to his unvetted, I think illegal, travel ban that affects seven different majority Muslim countries,” Coons told CNN Thursday.
“I think President Trump is going to harm both Judge Gorsuch’s chances of confirmation and his standing as president if he continues to undermine the independence of the federal judiciary,” he added.
Coons said a key issue for him is whether Gorsuch can show he will operate independently from Trump, and said he would ask the nominee questions about that when they meet.
Gorsuch has told senators like Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., that he thinks Trump’s attack against judges are “demoralizing,” a sign that Gorsuch is interested in creating some space between him and Trump.
Trump on Thursday accused Blumenthal of misrepresenting what Gorsuch said, although it was backed up by Gorsuch’s confirmation team.
