Washington, DC – Today at his office, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, met with President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, United States Circuit Judge Neil Gorsuch. Whitehouse released the following statement on the meeting:
“I was glad Judge Gorsuch and I could meet today. I have heard a number of concerns from Rhode Islanders about his nomination and we covered a great deal of ground.
“In recent years, the Supreme Court has delivered one 5-4 decision after another, benefiting the Republican Party’s political operation in three big ways: helping them win elections by rolling back campaign finance and voter protections; helping the Party’s corporate backers by punishing unions and workers; and delivering far-right social policy that Congress would not pass. These conservative political victories should not be confused with conservative judicial philosophy. Indeed, in some cases, these decisions have been plainly activist and in direct opposition to a typical conservative jurist’s reading of the Constitution, like the Seventh Amendment guarantee of access to a civil jury or the Fifth and Fourteenth’s guarantee of due process.
“Chief Justice Roberts promised to merely ‘call balls and strikes.’ Then, the conservative bloc of five Justices became a political wrecking crew. Rhode Islanders want the Senate to confirm a Justice who will faithfully serve the Court and serve the law, not serve the special interests of the Republican Party. To win my support, Judge Gorsuch will have to convince me that he will stand up to the sort of political giveaways to Republicans that have been the hallmark of the Roberts Court.”
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