{"id":72108,"date":"2017-03-21T14:55:40","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T20:55:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/confirmation-hearing-begins-for-supreme-court-nominee\/"},"modified":"2017-03-21T20:55:40","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T20:55:40","slug":"confirmation-hearing-begins-for-supreme-court-nominee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/confirmation-hearing-begins-for-supreme-court-nominee\/","title":{"rendered":"Confirmation hearing begins for Supreme Court nominee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Supreme
Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch and his wife, Marie, who live near Boulder, are greeted in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room Monday by Colorado\u2019s U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet.<\/span>Shira Stein\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

WASHINGTON \u2013 Judge Neil Gorsuch\u2019s nomination hearing to become an associate justice of the Supreme Court was aptly characterized Monday by Gorsuch: \u201cThis is quite a lot different than the last time I was here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room was packed, contrasting with Gorsuch\u2019s 2006 confirmation hearing for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals when a single senator, Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, attended. As Gorsuch was introduced by U.S. Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, and Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, the sound of camera shutters filled the room.<\/p>\n

As expected, Gardner gave a glowing introduction of Gorsuch, calling him a \u201cfaithful \u2026 and ardent defender of our constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gardner poked a bit of fun at the fact that Supreme Court justices tend to come from East Coast states. Gorsuch would be only the second Coloradan to serve at the high court, after Justice Byron White.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge Gorsuch\u2019s nomination recognizes that there are indeed highly qualified jurists west of the Mississippi river,\u201d said Gardner.<\/p>\n

Gorsuch mentioned his admiration for Justice White in his opening statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Colorado today, there is God and John Elway and Peyton Manning. In my childhood, it was God and Byron White,\u201d Gorsuch said.<\/p>\n

Bennet also gave introductory remarks; he did not commit to how he would eventually vote, saying \u201cI am keeping an open mind about this nomination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gorsuch\u2019s qualifications were enumerated by Gardner and Bennet.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge Gorsuch is not an ideologue. He is a mainstream jurist who follows the law as written and doesn\u2019t try to supplant it with his own personal policy preferences,\u201d Gardner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe Judge Gorsuch is unquestionably committed to the rule of law,\u201d Bennet said.<\/p>\n

Bennet also outlined hurdles Gorsuch must overcome. The main hurdles, which were reflected in the opening statements of the Democrats on the committee, surround President Donald Trump\u2019s attack on judicial independence and the Senate\u2019s treatment of Chief Judge Merrick Garland, who was nominated to the Supreme Court seat by President Barack Obama in March 2016, but the GOP refused to schedule a confirmation hearing.<\/p>\n

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said, \u201cOur job is to determine whether Judge Gorsuch is a reasonable mainstream conservative, or is he not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gorsuch acknowledged his imperfections in his opening statement, and gave the committee a deeper understanding of his judicial philosophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting on a robe does not make me any smarter. Putting on a robe reminds us judges that it\u2019s time to lose our egos and open our minds. Ours is a judiciary of honest, black polyester,\u201d Gorsuch said.<\/p>\n

He also began to explain how he has previously decided cases, a thread that will likely be focused on more in questioning Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy decisions have never reflected a judgment about the people before me, only a judgment about the law,\u201d Gorsuch said.<\/p>\n

Gorsuch invoked his learning at the hand of Justice Anthony Kennedy, for whom Gorsuch clerked. Gorsuch said Kennedy taught him that \u201ca case isn\u2019t just a number or a name, but a life story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shira Stein is a reporting intern for The Durango Herald in Washington, D.C., and a student at American University. Reach her at sstein@durangoherald.com<\/a> and follow her on Twitter @stein_shira.<\/em><\/p>\n

This story has been updated to correct that Neil Gorsuch would be the second Coloradan on the bench; there have been several justices from other western states, including most recently Sandra Day O\u2019Connor, who was born in Texas and living in Arizona when appointed.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coloradan Neil Gorsuch would be only second justice from state<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[24,25,1566,22],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-72108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-u-s-sen-cory-gardner","tag-u-s-sen-michael-bennet","tag-u-s-senate","tag-us-supreme-court"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72108"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=72108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}