Neil Gorsuch continued to walk a delicate line Wednesday of answering questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee while not disclosing his personal opinions on cases or controversies.
The Supreme Court nominee sought to paint himself as a fair and independent judge in his third day of confirmation hearings. If confirmed, Gorsuch will fill the seat vacated by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who passed away a little more than a year ago.
Though Gorsuch had deep admiration for Scalia, his attempts to stay independent meant keeping his distance from the former justice at times.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, who said Scalia was “intelligent” and a friend of his, asked Gorsuch if he agrees with Scalia’s comment that the 2013 renewal of the Voting Rights Act is a “perpetuation of racial entitlement.”
Gorsuch, who’s been trying to avoid issuing opinions in the hearings, did not give a direct answer.
“I don’t speak for Justice Scalia,” he said. “I speak for myself.”
Gorsuch faced an 11-hour marathon session the day before. On Tuesday, Gorsuch answered questions on a range of issues, from his previous rulings to abortion to the President’s attacks on the judiciary.
The nominee has also repeatedly suggested that he’d be willing to rule against the President, if necessary.
Leahy, citing the Bush administration and torture, asked Gorsuch on Wednesday if he thinks there’s any circumstance in which a president could legally ignore a statute.
Gorsuch argued that “presidents make all sorts of arguments about inherent authority,” as does Congress. “We have courts to decide these cases for a reason– to resolve these disputes.”
He was pressed again on whether he can think of a scenario in which a president can ignore a law on the books.
“I can’t think of one, offhand,” Gorsuch said.
Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, used his answer to transition to a question about the current administration. Without mentioning his name, Leahy referenced a quote by President Donald Trump’s adviser Stephen Miller on the President’s executive order banning immigration from six Muslim majority countries.
Miller, shortly after a federal court ruled against the ban earlier this year, stated that the President’s powers to protect the nation “will not be questioned.”
Reading the quote, Leahy asked Gorsuch if a president would have to comply with a court order.
“That’s the rule of law in this country,” Gorsuch said.
“I’m a judge now, and I take that seriously, and you better believe I expect judicial decrees to be obeyed,” he added.
It was one more example of Gorsuch trying to prove he’s willing to take on “the big guy,” fending off attacks from Democrats who worry Gorsuch won’t rule in favor of “the little guy.”
Gorsuch, still responding to Leahy, quoted a mentor of his, saying “the real test of the rule of law is where the government, government could lose in its own courts and accept those judgments.”
Republicans on the committeehave appeared content with Gorsuch’s answers, and fireworks have rarely broken out between Democrats and the judge.
On the campaign trail, Trump said he would appoint a judge who would overturn Roe v. Wade, but Gorsuch said he was never asked during the selection process to make promises on certain decisions.
Pressed further on what he would have done if Trump had asked him to do so, Gorsuch said he “would have walked out the door.”
“That’s not what judges do,” he continued. “They don’t do it at that end of Pennsylvania Avenue and they shouldn’t do it at this end either.”
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley announced he expects the committee will vote on Gorsuch’s nomination April 3. After that, Republicans, who have 52 members in the Senate, need 60 votes to avoid a filibuster in the full Senate.
