WASHINGTON — Judge Neil Gorsuch emphasized "the importance of an independent judiciary" Monday in opening remarks to a Senate Judiciary Committee divided over his nomination to the Supreme Court.
"Under our Constitution, it is for this body, the people's representatives, to make new laws. For the executive to ensure those laws are faithfully enforced. And for neutral and independent judges to apply the law in the people's disputes," said Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's pick to fill the high court vacancy created 13 months ago by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Gorsuch, 49, who serves on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is a respected, highly credentialed and conservative judge with a legal philosophy akin to Scalia's, who has spent 10 years on the federal bench. Democrats claimed that he's found in favor of corporations over "the little guy" during that time, while Republicans credit him with an intelligent and straightforward approach of interpreting the law as it is, not as anyone would wish it to be.
Since Scalia's death, the court has split 4 to 4 on a handful of cases. Gorsuch's confirmation would generally restore the court's 5-4 conservative tilt, although Justice Anthony Kennedy, for whom Gorsuch clerked, has joined the liberals on cases involving gay rights, abortion rights and race.
"These days we sometimes hear judges cynically described as politicians in robes, seeking to enforce their own politics rather than striving to apply the law impartially. If I thought that were true I'd hang up the robe. But I just don't think that's what a life in the law is about," Gorsuch said.
Gorsuch delivered a very personal opening statement, speaking of his Western upbringing and his parents and grandparents, and choking up as he hugged his wife, Louise, of 20 years, and talked about their two daughters.
Gorsuch spoke to the Senate Judiciary Committee after hours of opening statements from senators revealed deep partisan divides between Democrats and Republicans on the panel. Democrats angrily condemned Republicans for refusing to act on Barack Obama's nominee last year, while Republicans accused Democrats of trying to turn Gorsuch's confirmation hearing into a referendum on the GOP president.
"The nominee before us today is not President Trump," said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. "The nominee before us today is not Leader McConnell," the Senate GOP leader, Mitch McConnell, who engineered the 10-month blockade of Obama's court pick, Judge Merrick Garland, last year.
"So I hope this nomination hearing focuses on the one person before us," Tillis said.
Democrats made clear that it wouldn't.
Addressing Gorsuch, Sen. Dick Durbin repeated a comment by White House chief of staff Reince Priebus last month that Gorsuch "represents the type of judge that has the vision of Donald Trump."
"I want to hear from you why Mr. Priebus would say that," Durbin, D-Ill., said to Gorsuch. "Most Americans question whether we need a Supreme Court justice with the vision of Donald Trump."
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.