Schumer Floor Remarks: Republicans Are Now Rushing To Fill A Supreme Court Seat For A President Whose Campaign Is Under FBI Investigation
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today delivered remarks on the Senate floor outlining his concerns with confirming Judge Neil Gorsuch to serve on the Supreme Court. Below are his remarks:
Mr. President, yesterday President Trump’s nominee for 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 about than he was when he met 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 answer even those questions.
For instance, I asked him the very simple question, I said forget about the case that was then-pending in the 9th 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.
If it was just interpreting the law without any inputs from a person’s life and thoughts and ideology, we wouldn’t have that stark breakdown, but we do, and in my view, the hard right, in trying to populate the bench with people way over, has adopted this philosophy, starting with Miguel Estrada: don’t answer the questions, because if the American people knew how you really felt, they wouldn’t want you on the bench. Let’s take the case of President Trump.
Of course President Trump considered ideology when he selected Judge Gorsuch off a list culled by the far-right Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society. He didn’t pick the judges himself. He went to these extreme groups, and said “You make a list and I promise I’ll pick people from that list. Do you think those organizations, dedicated to a personal ideological viewpoint didn’t consider ideology when building their lists of possible Supreme Court picks? Of course they did. President Trump said himself that he wanted to appoint a Justice who would overturn Roe vs. Wade. This idea that he just selected a judicious, neutral judge is belied by the selection process!
Totally, and amazingly, that's how the president considered these judges.
So it’s not unreasonable for Senators to consider and question the ideology of a nominee in Committee. President Trump sure did, when he came up with a list. The only way for the Judiciary Committee to do that is if the nominee is actually willing to answer specific questions.
If he is not willing to answer specific questions, what is the purpose of even holding this four-day hearing?
Mr. President, before I move on to another topic, I’d like to point out that it is the height of irony that Republicans held this Supreme Court seat open for nearly a calendar year while President Obama was in office, but are now rushing to fill the seat for a president whose campaign is under investigation by the FBI. Even Rep. Nunes, the Republican Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said the investigation confirmed by FBI Director Comey yesterday puts a “big, gray cloud” over this Administration.
You can bet that if the shoe was on the other foot – and a Democratic President was under investigation by the FBI – that Republicans would be howling at the moon about filling a Supreme Court seat in such circumstances. After all, they stopped a president who wasn’t under investigation from filling a seat with nearly a year left in his presidency.
It is unseemly to be moving forward so fast on confirming a Supreme Court Justice with a lifetime appointment while this “big, gray cloud” of an FBI investigation hangs over the presidency.