somewhat different, how much would you expect his comments about the judiciary to figure in tomorrow, what are you hearing from your legal sources? well, i m sure his that neil gorsuch will be asked a lot about donald trump the president who nominated him. whether in the end it would make any difference, i don t know. i think to some extent that part will be political theater and these hearings now as long as everybody is clear about the process, for the first day the nominee doesn t say much except hello. he sits there and listens to all the members of the judiciary committee make openings statements, he gets to briefly introduce his family and say what a privilege it is to be nominated and the fireworks don t start until tuesday when the actual questioning begins and then on wednesday, any questioning that continues and then people who will speak for and against the nominee. well, pete williams, i think we can agree that senators make sure to schedule their remarks first en if
his career was to be a judge to write decisions and to make an impact by upholding our laws and our constitution. the qualifications of judge gorsuch are beyond dispute. dalla, as you know there is nothing donald trump prizes more than turning your back on money and materialism for other pursuits. that s well documented. and obviously that was something he wanted to highlight in neil gorsuch s past. if the question is are we going to get another bork, we re not going to get another bork, there is never going to be another bork. the one lesson of the robert bork confirmation hearings is that no one will ever get up and tell the truth again and they will certainly nobody will say anything objectionable again. i think let s stipulate he will be, you know, gilded tongue and very warm and beloved by his clerks and his family and even
good person, he s a good judge, he s capable, that s not the point. it is an illegitimate seat. one that actually somebody of his ability and his background shouldn t even be getting because he s a person of integrity, far too conservative for my taste, but he s not a person who normally would be associated with something as illegitimate as taking a supreme court seat that absolutely does not belong to thispresident. do you think he would uphold citins united? that i don t know. one thing i was pleased about, you know, i was in the united states senate, i was involved with six different supreme court nominations and one case some of my friends, progressives and democrats are unhappy that i voted for chief justice roberts. chief justice roberts unfortunately voted for citizens united, but refused to overturn the most important part of mccain/feingold, the ban on soft money. so i m hoping that if somehow neil gorsuch becomes a supreme court justice, he makes sure they don t do that,
senate and go to majority to approve gorsuch. i think donald trump and his advisers were pretty shrewd in picking somebody who at least has a chance of getting a democratic eight democratic votes, at least have a chance of getting through without the democrats being able to do something. and i think that s possible in this case. i think mcconnell doesn t want to blow it up but may have to. it may be this is going one way. if judge gorsuch does well enough for voters in democratic states that went for trump, dalla, that could put even more pressure on because this guy is not scalia and he s not trump in his style and how he might read and come across the country in days of hearings. listen to donald trump on all of this. he could have had any job at any law firm for any amount of money. but what he wanted to do with
replied, give us time. if nominees go down based on vetting, political opposition or losing the white house s confidence, do any of those patterns spell trouble for trump s pick? joining me now, nbc justice rrest pete williams, who covered six of these battles and npr legal affairs correspondent nina totenburg who covered 18. great to have you both here. pete, we just saw you there on the miers nomination. what do we know about how any of that plays into gorsuch? well, i think that what has happened here is that the opposition to neil gorsuch is sort of like the opposition was to merrick garland. it has to do with the principle, not the person, the republicans were saying that it should be up to the next president and now the democrats are saying that what happened to merrick garland is wrong, and neil gorsuch shouldn t take the opportunity to capture a stolen seat. but i don t think any of those