Senate Democrats say they will filibuster President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch if he is not “mainstream” and is “radical,” but they will not specify exactly what they mean by the terms.
Gorsuch was tapped by Trump Tuesday night to replace the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, and Gorsuch has been described as similar to Scalia in judicial thought and philosophy.
Democrats have already attacked Gorsuch as not mainstream enough and too radical of a nominee. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement on Tuesday he had “serious doubts” Gorsuch is mainstream.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi contended Wednesday that Gorsuch was a “hostile appointment.” She added, “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.”
“Instead of putting forward a mainstream nominee for the vacant Supreme Court seat, he has offered someone who will have a hard time earning bipartisan support,” Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said in a statement.
Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown dismissed Gorsuch Wednesday telling reporters, “And instead we’ve seen, you know, that this gentleman is far out of step on economic issues–just the fact that he believes corporations are people.”
When asked by The Daily Caller if they considered Scalia to be out of the mainstream, most Democrats preferred to not say one way or the other.
“I’m not going to pass judgment on the late Justice Scalia,” Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden told TheDC.
Others pleaded ignorance of Scalia’s public judicial record on the high court for over 30 years or did not want to compare other Supreme Court Justices.
“I never had the opportunity to vote for Justice Scalia. I don’t know whether I would have voted for him and I would have had to go through the same process,” Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal said.
Fellow Connecticut Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy said, “I didn’t agree with Scalia, but I’m going to evaluate the nominee based on their credentials and their judicial philosophy not based on how they compare to other Supreme Court justices.”
Democratic Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown did specify that Scalia is out of the mainstream for considering corporations as people.
“Scalia was a big part of the court saying that corporations are people. And when you say that, you give more rights to corporations than people,” said Sen. Brown.
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