Chuck Schumer: “yesterday, President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch, was introduced in the Judiciary Committee…”

“yesterday, President Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch, was introduced in the Judiciary Committee for opening statements. We all look forward to today's round of questioning, during which I hope the nominee will be more forthcoming than he was with me. I am very sympathetic to the fact that judges should not offer opinions on cases that could come before the Court lest they bias themselves. Every Senator is aware of that. We know to ask general questions or questions about cases previously decided to get a sense of a judge's philosophy. In our meeting, Judge Gorsuch refused to even answer those questions. For instance, I asked him a very simple question. I said forget about the case that was then pending in the Ninth Circuit on the Executive order. I said: Let's say Congress passed a law: No Muslim could enter the United States. Would that be unconstitutional? He even refused to answer that question. So I hope he will be more willing to answer questions in the Judiciary Committee today, particularly about his views of important Supreme Court cases of the past and his own ideology. This idea that judges judge regardless of ideology is totally belied by the fact that there is a coalition right now--four judges on one side, four judges on the other. Four appointed by Democratic Presidents who generally rule one way, four appointed by Republican Presidents who generally rule the other.…”