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Schumer Accuses Gorsuch of Playing 'Dodgeball' With Senate Judiciary Committee

March 21, 2017

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y) accused President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch of playing "dodgeball" on Tuesday during a press conference with other Senate Democrats.

"I want to say one thing based on what we've seen so far, " Schumer said on Tuesday. "Judge [Neil] Gorsuch looks like he's playing dodgeball with the Senate Judiciary Committee. He is bent towards to avoid revealing anything, anything at all, about his judicial philosophy or the legal issues that concern the American people."

"There is no legally justifiable rationale for not answering the questions he was asked," Schumer added. "He's hiding behind this. He simply wants to hide his views from the American people."

Schumer's anti-Gorsuch rhetoric on Tuesday is a direct contradiction of what he said in February during a press conference.

"There is a grand tradition that I support that you can't ask a judge who’s nominated for a – or a potential judge who is nominated – for a judgeship about a specific case that might come before them," Schumer said.

MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, however, gave Gorsuch top marks on Tuesday when she said that Gorsuch's performance has been a "slam dunk," the Washington Free Beacon reported.

CNN's Gloria Borger also praised Gorsuch, stating that he is qualified for the Supreme Court, but Democrats are still angry that former President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland never received a hearing, the Free Beacon reported.

"Judge Gorsuch is completely qualified and everybody knows it. He is totally, completely qualified," Borger said.

"He's exactly the kind of nominee you would expect from a Republican, period," she continued. "This is what elections are about."