Neil Gorsuch calls comments critical of judges 'demoralizing'

During his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Trump's Supreme Court pick, said he finds attacks made by "anyone" against judges "disheartening" and "demoralizing."

Trump has spoken out against many judges, including James Robart, who halted his first travel ban (Trump called him a "so-called judge" on Twitter) and Gonzalo Curiel, who oversaw one of the fraud lawsuits against Trump University (Trump questioned his ability to be impartial due to his Mexican heritage and declared he was a "hater"). In the weeks before his hearing, Gorsuch met with senators, including Richard Blumenthal, Democrat from Connecticut, and Blumenthal revealed that Gorsuch said he was uneasy over the way Trump talked about Robart.

This made Trump fume and suggest Blumenthal was lying, but Gorsuch on Tuesday publicly admitted he was bothered by inflammatory comments against judges. "I know these people and I know how decent they are and when anyone criticizes the honesty, the integrity, the motives of a federal judge, I find that disheartening, I find that demoralizing, because I know the truth," Gorsuch said. "Anyone, including the president of the United States?" Blumenthal asked. "Anyone is anyone," Gorsuch replied.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.