CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said Tuesday evening that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch has a "tremendous advantage" in his confirmation hearing because he "knows so much more about everything he's being asked" than the senators posing him questions.
Host Anderson Cooper first commented on Gorsuch's demeanor during the confirmation process.
"He did seem very calm and sort of collected throughout the entire thing," he said.
Toobin jumped in to discuss Gorsuch's "advantage" at his hearing.
"He has a tremendous advantage in this circumstance," he said. "He knows so much more about everything he's being asked than the senators, and a couple of times it really came back to bite them."
Toobin gave an example of an interaction with Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.) before Cooper asked for clarification.
"You know, Sen. Durbin from Illinois–" Toobin said.
"To bite the senators?" Cooper asked.
Toobin clarified before continuing.
"To bite the senators," he said.
Toobin said Gorsuch made Durbin look bad when the senator asked a question that he was ill prepared for.
"You know, tried to confront him with a story that came out about a law school class that he taught where one woman thought he engaged in sexist behavior in the classroom and Gorsuch told the story of how he taught this case out of a textbook and went on to say that his mother was a pioneering lawyer in Colorado," Toobin said.
"And I think completely turned the tide because Durbin broke the cardinal rule, which is you never ask a question to which you don't know the answer."