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Pelosi: Gorsuch Is a 'Hostile' Nomination

February 1, 2017

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) told CNN host Jake Tapper on Tuesday night that Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, is "hostile" towards women's reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, gun safety, and autistic children.

"Elections have ramifications, and here is a living, breathing example of it," Pelosi said.

Gorsuch, who has served on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals since 2006, is a Marshall Scholar who boasts degrees from Columbia, Harvard, and Oxford, has served as a clerk for Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy and Byron White, and was an official in the Justice Department under the Bush administration.

Pelosi said Trump has appointed someone who is on the side of corporate America and does not want to uphold employees' rights.

"Clean air, clean water, food safety, safety in medicine, and the rest, if you care about that for your children, he's not your guy," she said on Tuesday.

Pelosi then brought up Gabby Gifford's gun safety group, Americans for Responsible Solutions, stating that the group believes Gorsuch "comes down on the side of felons over gun safety."

"Hostile to women's reproductive rights, Hobby Lobby case for example," she continued, referencing the case in which Gorsuch joined the Court of Appeals to rule that the Department of Health and Human Services is prohibited from requiring for-profit, secular corporations to provide contraceptive coverage as part of a health insurance plan, based on the view that religious rights are both a constitutional and statutory right as held by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

"The list goes on and on," Pelosi said. "Criticized progressives for bringing cases that related to LGBT progress, taking those cases to the courts."

Pelosi added that Gorsuch is hostile towards autistic children.

"What saddens me the most as a mom and a grandmother, though, is his hostility toward children in school, children with autism," she said. "He has ruled that they don't have the same rights under the IDEA [Individuals With Disabilities Education Act] that children–that they could reach their intellectual and social advancement under the law. He has said that doesn't apply to them. He's come down against them under the ADA, as well, and again under IDEA."

"So it's a very hostile appointment. Hill fellow, well met, lovely family, I'm sure," Pelosi said. "But as far as your family is concerned ... if you breathe air, drink water, eat food, take medicine, or in any other way interact with the courts, this is a very bad decision, well outside the mainstream of American legal thought."

Evidence is yet to be found to support that Neil Gorsuch is against air, water, food, or medicine.