United States

Vermont Senator Has New Questions for Supreme Court Nominee Gorsuch

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, sent a long list of follow-up questions to President Trump’s pick for the nation’s highest court

As the confirmation process of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch moves forward, a key member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee still wants more information from President Trump’s pick.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, already said he plans to vote against Gorsuch to sit on the nation’s highest court.

Monday, Leahy said that he still has more questions for the nominee, and released a seven-page list of 21 questions he sent to Gorsuch on Friday.

Judge Gorsuch’s answers to the questions will be under oath, and Leahy expects to receive the responses ahead of next week’s Senate Judiciary Committee vote on the nomination.

The questions run the gamut from the nominee’s stance on campaign finance rules, to rights for LGBT Americans, to his views on medical aid in dying for people already in the final days of their fights with terminal illnesses.

“Unless he had an amazing confirmation conversion over the weekend and answered these questions with a different view than he had during the hearing, I’ll vote against him,” Sen. Leahy said Monday in response to a question from necn.

Leahy also said he is not ready to sign onto Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer’s call for the Democrats to filibuster the Gorsuch vote. Leahy said he first has to speak to the rest of the caucus about it.

The full list of follow-up questions Leahy sent to Gorsuch can be viewed on Leahy's website.

Leahy has been known to request more in-depth information from other nominees following their confirmation hearings.

Official questions following another recent confirmation hearing, for now-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, included one on any contact between Sessions and members of the Russian government before or after election day.

In response to the Leahy question, Sessions denied having any contact with Russian officials.

However, Sessions would later change his answer, leading many to view the change as a factor in the attorney general recusing himself from investigations pertaining to Russia’s interference in U.S. elections.

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