People who personally know Judge Neil Gorsuch told senators Thursday that he’s an open-minded and kind man who deserves to be on the Supreme Court, undercutting Democrats who’ve said he has “ice water” in his veins.
Two former chief judges of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who both worked with Judge Gorsuch, endorsed him for the promotion to the high court, as did District Court Judge John L. Kane, who said he’s been both reversed and affirmed by the judge.
“Each time, I thought he was fair and right,” said Judge Kane. “He treats the parties and the trial judge’s rulings with respect.”
That contradicted the message Democrats and their witnesses told the Senate Judiciary Committee on the final day of hearings on Judge Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
Leaders of a full range of liberal interest groups testified against the judge, saying that based on their reading of his cases — and on the fact that he was picked by President Trump — they don’t trust him to advance their interests on the high court.
Heather McGhee, president of the progressive public policy organization Demos, said Judge Gorsuch wouldn’t advance the kinds of campaign finance laws she wants to see, saying it “could return us to an era in which powerful interests ran roughshod over workers, consumers, and anyone without a large checkbook and financial megaphone of their own.”
Democrats’ most influential witness was Jeff Perkins, whose disabled son was the plaintiff in a 2008 case that’s become a hiccup for the judge. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court in a unanimous ruling rejected the legal test Judge Gorsuch used in the case.
Mr. Perkins said the judge’s ruling “eviscerated the educational standard” requiring a quality education in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The father said under Judge Gorsuch’s interpretation of the law, schools could provide disabled children with an education “just above meaningless.”
“On behalf of all children — disabled, typical and gifted — I urge you to deny confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court of the United States,” he said.
Judge Gorsuch on Wednesday told the committee that he was bound in his ruling by precedent from the 10th Circuit, and had to use the standard he did.
Also testifying Thursday was Sandy Phillips, who lost her daughter in the Aurora, Colorado, shooting.
She said Judge Gorsuch hasn’t done enough to convince her he’ll be an advocate for new gun controls while on the Supreme Court.
Democrats have demanded Judge Gorsuch show more empathy as a judge. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Thursday warned against judges “with ice water in their veins.”
But the judge’s colleagues and former law clerks said he has a personal touch.
Leah Bressack, a former clerk, said he’s a man that “cares when you have personal events in your life,” and a judge who doesn’t consider politics when deciding a case.
“When we approach cases, we just look at the arguments that are being made before us,” said Ms. Bressack. She said Judge Gorsuch never decides a case based on a party’s identity.
Jeff Lamken, who was a colleague of Judge Gorsuch’s for roughly 20 years, said he wanted senators to understand the judge’s “kindness, his compassion, his generosity of spirit as a person.”
Alice Fisher, who got to know Judge Gorsuch as a summer associate at a D.C. firm, also described him as having “unlimited reserves of courtesy, kindness, and good humor.”
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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