Live blog of confirmation hearing | March 21, 2017
-
Gorsuch talking about United States v. Jones, about GPS tracking device on car. This is at least his second reference to Jones and originalism today.
-
Klobuchar: So when the Constitution refers to "his" or "he" in terms of president, the founders thought a woman could be president?
-
Gorsuch: Of course. [Raises his voice]. I have two daughters.
-
Klobuchar is citing other examples of things left out of the Constituion, like the Air Force.
-
Klobuchar refers to US v. VA, re exclusion of women from VMI. Scalia stuck to originalism in dissent, saying decision is creation of Constitution.
-
Klobuchar: Would you be willing to apply same approach to minorities, LGBT, etc.?
-
Gorsuch: A good judge applies a law without respect to persons.
-
Gorsuch: I don't take account of the person before me. Everyone is equal in the eyes of the law.
-
Gorsuch, responding to Klobuchar's discussion of "selective originalism" -- refers her to various Supreme Court decision that relied on originalism to reach pro-defendant result.
-
Klobuchar brings up "courtesy fifth": is it a good thing?
-
Gorsuch: I haven't studied that. Would be presumptuous to offer an opinion.
-
Klobuchar: Could be relevant to travel ban, so maybe we will ask in next round.
-
Under NYT v. Sullivan, would First Amendment permit government officials to sue the press under any lower standard?
-
Gorsuch: NYT v. Sullivan was a landmark decision. Proof of actual malice is required to state a claim. Can point you to cases that have applied this principle.
-
Last question from Klobuchar: are there instances in which a court should recognize a reporter's privilege?
-
Gorsuch: those questions come up, so I must be careful. Your description of the case is entirely accurate.
-
Senator Cruz is up now. Congratulates Gorsuch on making it through the first half of questioning with flying colors.
-
Cruz: What is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything?
-
This is an anecdote about swearing in new lawyers at the Tenth Circuit. Gorsuch apparently asks them that question, and the answer is from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which he says is one of his daughter's favorite books.
-
Talking about White's record in NFL. Cruz -- can you talk about your experience?
-
Gorsuch: He really was my childhood hero. To get picked out of the pile to clerk for him was the privilege of a lifetime.
-
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asks first about Justice Byron White.
-
We have another Gorsuch Byron White impression. [Don't know him, so can't weigh in on how accurate it is.]
-
White said his judicial philosophy was to decide cases. [Pretty sure we have heard this anecdote already today too.]
-
Before a short break, Grassley entered into the record an op-ed with the Chicago Tribune, "Crying wolf over Neil Gorsuch." Here it is. www.chicagotribune.com
-
Now Cruz, who also clerked at the Court, is talking about the basketball court at the court. Describes White as playing with a bunch of "pencil-necked law clerks." [Cruz's words, not mine.]
-
Now we are talking about Byron White's jump shot and eye-hand coordination. [I do not make this up.]
-
White told him, "The truth is, we will all be forgotten."
-
Cruz: Some Democratic senators who have challenged originalism, painted it as some quaint and outdated mode of interpreting the Constitution.
-
Cruz (who is speaking very slowly): Do you agree that originalism is a quaint and outdated notion?
-
Gorsuch: We sometimes use labels as a way to not engage with other people. As a judge, that's not fair or useful.
-
Gorsuch: I don't think there is a judge alive who doesn't want to know something about original meaning of text he or she is interpreting. I don't think this is an ideological thing. Refers to Fourth Amendment cases that ruled for the defendant. Also Crawford v. Washington and the right to confront witnesses.
-
Gorsuch: Crawford based on original meaning of Sixth Amendment. Justice Stevens examined original history of Fifth Amendment in Apprendi.
-
Gorsuch: Or Heller, in which both majority and dissent wrote opinions that examined original history of the Constitution.
Submit Event
