Gorsuch Team: Comments about attacks on judiciary were not specific to Trump Immigration EO
Just as I expected, “he could not comment on any specific cases”
The buzz overnight is that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch criticized President Trump for attacking the Judge who granted the TRO against the Immigration Executive Order, and also the 9th Circuit.
Both Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal and Republican Ben Sasse said the terms “disheartening” and “demoralizing” were used.
That a nominee (or a Supreme Court Justice) would comment on a case that may come before him in the future struck me as both surprising and unwise.
Trump tweeted that Blumenthal was misrepresenting the nature of Gorsuch’s comments:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/829660612452036608
Blumenthal portrayed the comments as specific to Trump and the 9th Circuit, while Sasse applied a more general preservation of judicial independence:
My first instinct was that Gorsuch must have been referring to attacks on the judiciary in general, not on Trump’s comments about the pending 9th Circuit case.
Gorsuch’s team, led by Senator Kelly Ayotte, just confirmed what I suspected. The comments were taken out of context to the extent portrayed as a specific criticism of Trump’s comments on the Immigration EO.
Here is the statement:
Judge Gorsuch has made it very clear in all of his discussions with senators, including Senator Blumenthal, that he could not comment on any specific cases and that judicial ethics prevent him from commenting on political matters. He has also emphasized the importance of an independent judiciary, and while he made clear that he was not referring to any specific case, he said that he finds any criticism of a judge’s integrity and independence disheartening and demoralizing.
So @SenBlumenthal et al did in fact misrepresent what Gorsuch said – was referring to attacks on judiciary generally, not this specific case https://t.co/0VMpr8TLAZ
— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) February 9, 2017
Exactly what I would expect and also respect from a SCOTUS nominee. He was not commenting on the current issue at 9th Circuit Court. https://t.co/VEeNV6poNH
— Nancye J. May (@nanjmay6478) February 9, 2017
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Comments
Nope. Not buying it.
#DumpGorsuch now.
#DTS and #FTT apply to the Judiciary.
Specific and direct criticism is the first step.
Then implement
1. Election of all judges
2. Term limits (1 term) for all judges
3. Implement legal apparatus for recall of judges
We’re a Representative Republic. There’s a good reason the founders didn’t do it that way. Voters are smart and stupid at the same time and I really don’t welcome the media politicizing judicial positions.
Yep. One of the best quotes out of Men in Black. “A person is smart, but people are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkCwFkOZoOY
Gorsuch is #SouterJunior
Just a thought, so SCOTUS judges shouldn’t call courts “renegade jurisdictions”?
http://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/patently-unfair/
Lessee…
Who WOULD find it totally in their province to make such a determination…???
Hmmmm????
I’m not saying he’s wrong. Especially since his eight compatriots probably agree.
It does set a standard for criticizing judges though.
Sadly today I heard that Rader is lobbying Trump to let him “make patents great again” by appointing him head of the PO. < shudder >
Something that I think only he and Gene Quinn think is a good idea.
Here’s a theory based on nothing other than my own entertainment. Gorsuch says something that can be interpreted as critical to Trump. Trump waves it off, but already people are starting to jump about the “ditch Gorsuch” wagon. Over the next few days, tensions mount, and it starts to look like Trump might actually consider replacing Gorsuch. The Democrats, knowing Gorsuch is their best possible outcome, panic and start trying to get Gorsuch consented by loosening the restraints from Schumer on the party-line vote.
Of course, that would require a level of subtlety that I haven’t seen yet from Trump, but then again, subtlety seldom looks like what it is, which is the point.
Gorsuch was set up by blumenthal and showed his true colors.
He is weak and Trump should pull him.
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