Opponents of Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court trotted out the recollections of several partisan Democrats to undermine claims that he provided pro-bono legal representation.
Gorsuch served in Harvard Prison Legal Assistance Project and the Harvard Defenders while a law student between 1988 and 1991, according to his resume. Those programs provide free legal assistance to prisoners and other underprivileged people.
Several people affiliated with those groups now say that they do not recall interacting with Gorsuch, a judge on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. All but one of those classmates is a partisan Democrat.
"My answer is, ‘Neil who?’," Harvard Defenders alum Sarah Reed told the Wall Street Journal when asked about Gorsuch's involvement.
Reed previously served as the general counsel at Charles River Ventures, which endorsed Hillary Clinton by publishing "F*ck Trump" on its website in August, before joining Lowenstein Sandler LLC's tech group in 2008. She and her husband, a fellow lawyer, have donated thousands of dollars to Democrats. Reed gave $1,230 to Barack Obama's campaign, while her husband pumped $4,500 into the coffers of Obama, DNC Services Corp, and Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign.
John Cunha told the Journal that his failure to remember Gorsuch meant that he could not have been involved in those groups. He did acknowledge that the nominee could have been involved in less-direct aspects of the program.
"It would seem to indicate he wasn’t very involved," Cunha said.
Cunha contributed $1,300 total to Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Barack Obama between 2008 and 2016.
Cunha & Holcomb, P.C.'s Twitter account attacked former North Carolina Gov. Patrick McCrory and stand your ground laws in the past.
I just asked Governor @PatMcCroryNC to give the 40,000 DREAMers in N Carolina driver's licenses. Join me. http://t.co/7iCPG4Tb
— Cunha & Holcomb, PC (@CunhaHolcombPC) February 10, 2013
A 'Stand your Ground" law would be a travesty of both justice and common sense and has no place in the state of MA http://t.co/TElpbCb0
— Cunha & Holcomb, PC (@CunhaHolcombPC) April 12, 2012
Elizabeth Buckley Lewis also questioned Gorsuch's service. She served as a lawyer at the Ford Foundation—which has donated tens of millions of dollars to liberal activist groups over the past few decades, including $1 million to the Clinton Foundation—from 1996 to 2003.
She also served as a board member of The New American Economy Action Fund, an immigration activist group. The group's stated goal is to "establish a path to legal status" for those who entered the country illegally, a policy directly at odds with Trump. Employees at the organization contributed $2,700 to oppose his candidacy.
The Journal article also interviewed three other Gorsuch classmates. Two of those sources, John Salsberg and Stephen Weisbrod, have registered as Democrats in the past and have combined to contribute $5,000 to John Kerry, Barack Obama, and DNC Services Corp. since 2004. A final source, an assistant dean for pro bono programs at Harvard, has never contributed to a candidate, nor has she registered to vote.
Trump nominated Gorsuch to fill the vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia's death in February 2016. Several Senate Democrats have vowed a filibuster to block the nomination.