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Sen. Chuck Schumer says filibuster likely over Neil Gorsuch’s nomination

He doesn’t think Gorsuch will be an independent or neutral judge.

Photo of Michelle Jaworski

Michelle Jaworski

Sen. Chuck Schumer

The Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Neil Gorsuch is still underway, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has already made up his mind.

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He announced Thursday that he will not vote to confirm Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

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Schumer, who previously called for the Senate to delay voting on Gorsuch’s nomination because of the FBI’s ongoing investigation into President Donald Trump’s alleged ties with Russia, took to the Senate floor to explain his reasoning, citing Gorsuch’s inability to answer specific questions or convince him that he’d be neutral.

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“Judge Gorsuch was unable to sufficiently convince me that he’d be an independent check on a president who has shown almost no restraint from executive overreach,” Schumer said.

He also referenced several of Gorsuch’s rulings that favor the powerful, including a case where Gorsuch ruled in favor of employers who fired a truck driver after abandoning his truck when it was 14 degrees below zero—which Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) previously brought up—and one of Gorsuch’s rulings that was overturned during the hearing.

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Schumer also stated that he would support an effort to filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination and called out Republican colleagues who have urged a change to the rules in the future so that Supreme Court Justice nominations would only need a majority vote to schedule a final vote.

“If this nominee cannot earn 60 votes—a bar met by each of President Obama’s nominees, and George Bush’s last two nominees—the answer isn’t to change the rules,” Schumer said. “It’s to change the nominee.”

Meanwhile, according to Politico, several Democratic senators are contemplating offering Republicans a deal: let Gorsuch through, in exchange for a commitment to not kill the filibuster the next time a Supreme Court nominee comes up.

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You can watch Schumer’s statement below.

https://www.facebook.com/senschumer/videos/10155211098389407/

 
The Daily Dot