On Monday morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee begins four days of hearings on Judge Neil Gorsuch, nominated by President Trump to fill a vacant Supreme Court seat. Gorsuch is expected to make his first comments on Monday afternoon, after hours of opening statements from members of the Judiciary Committee. On Tuesday and Wednesday, each senator on the committee gets at least 50 minutes to question the conservative federal appellate judge from Colorado, and witnesses will speak for or against Gorsuch on Wednesday and Thursday. Republicans are united in their support for Gorsuch, while no Democrats have yet said they will vote for him.
Democrats are angry that Republicans blocked any consideration of Judge Merrick Garland, a similarly well-credentialed federal appellate judge nominated by former President Barack Obama, for almost a year. Democrats have enough votes to filibuster Gorsuch's nomination, probably, though Republicans have threatened to get rid of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees if they try. In the meantime, they have a list of questions for him and about him to try to figure out how he would rule on the high court. Gorsuch "is a bit of a puzzle," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). "We're going to try to put those pieces together so that the puzzle is complete and we have an understanding of what kind of a fifth vote will be going on the court."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
-
Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba have a rough day in defamation courtSpeed Read Trump's audible grousing as E. Jean Carroll testified earned him a warning he could be thrown out of court, and Habba showed she 'doesn't know what the hell she's doing'
-
Anders Breivik to testify in prison isolation lawsuit against NorwaySpeed Read Far-right fanatic who killed 77 people in 2011 claims he has received 'inhuman treatment' in custody
