Richard Wolf

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch faced 10 hours of questioning by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. Here are seven takeaways from Day Two of his confirmation hearings:

'No forecasts, no hints'

Try as they might, Democrats couldn't land a punch against Gorsuch when it came to eliciting his views on specific issues or cases — past, present or future.

As his allies had predicted, the federal appeals court judge adhered closely to the "Ginsburg standard," coined after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's insistence in her 1993 hearing to offer "no forecasts, no hints" about her positions on cases that might come before the court.

Abortion rights? No direct answer. Gun restrictions? Nope. Money in politics? Not for him to say. The same applied to virtually any topic Democrats broached.

If judges are reduced to making what sound like "campaign promises," Gorsuch said, "that's the beginning of the end of an independent judiciary."

Standing up to Trump

One question Gorsuch was eager to answer: Would he be independent as a justice, even willing to vote against the president who nominated him? Yes, he said, calling it a "softball question."

Nor did he have any problem denying the use of litmus tests in his nomination. “I wasn’t about to become a party to such a thing," he said. If Trump had asked for his view on Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion, he said later, "I would have walked out the door."

The answers — about the most definitive Gorsuch gave during hours of testimony — served to silence Democrats on what had promised to be fertile ground, given the president's many controversial statements and tweets. At least for a few hours anyway.

It was Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the 16th senator to question Gorsuch, who got him to address Trump's attacks on federal judges, including those who have ruled against his immigration travel ban. As he had said privately, Gorsuch said such remarks were "disheartening" and "demoralizing" -- but not much more.

It's Gorsuch, not Garland

Gorsuch was in the witness chair because Republicans refused to consider President Obama's nomination last year of federal appeals court Judge Merrick Garland for the same open seat.

Republicans lauded Gorsuch for reaching out to Garland after grabbing his brass ring. But Democrats wanted more: Gorsuch's agreement that Garland got a raw deal.

Ever the diplomat, Gorsuch didn't bite. "I think he's an outstanding judge," he said several times. But he added, "I can't get involved in politics. That's why judges don't clap at the State of the Union."

Relitigating Citizens United

One of the lengthiest discussions of the day was about "dark money" — political spending by unknown sources, which has multiplied since the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts in elections.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., asked Gorsuch how he felt about more than $10 million being spent on his behalf in the confirmation battle. While he said "disclosure serves important functions in a democracy," he would not say that the donors should be disclosed.

"Senator, with all respect, it falls in your court," Gorsuch said.

Tiptoeing around abortion

Gorsuch was only a bit more forthcoming on the subject of abortion. Asked if Roe v. Wade was settled law after 44 years, he said, "It has been reaffirmed many times, I can say that."

On the other hand, he acknowledged that he was the judge on his court who anonymously asked last summer for reconsideration of a panel's ruling against Utah Gov. Gary Herbert's effort to defund Planned Parenthood.

“It’s all about standards of review," Gorsuch said. While it would have been unconstitutional if Herbert stripped funding because he opposed legal abortions, it was not illegal for him to do so because of alleged unlawful actions by Planned Parenthood. Those were the facts assumed by a trial court, Gorsuch said, and they should have been accepted.

“I don’t care if the case is about abortion or widgets," he said.

In the end, the full appellate court voted 6-4 not to reconsider the panel's decision, and Planned Parenthood's funding was restored.

The 'frozen trucker'

Perhaps the case cited the most from about 2,700 Gorsuch has ruled on involved a truck driver whose trailer brakes froze, leaving him freezing in sub-zero temperatures in Illinois. It's been used by Democrats as an example of what they consider Gorsuch's dispassionate heartlessness in the face of human suffering.

"This is one of those you take home at night," the judge said, acknowledging it was difficult to dissent from a majority opinion against the truck driver's employer, which fired Alphonse Maddin for leaving the trailer in search of warmth. But while the law allowed Maddin to refuse to operate an unsafe vehicle, he did the opposite by operating it, and the law did not protect that action, Gorsuch said.

"Absurd," Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said of the judge's interpretation. Referencing his prior job as a comedian and "Saturday Night Live" cast member, he added, “I had a career in identifying absurdity, and I know it when I see it."

The Teflon nominee

Faced with a suave nominee boasting a top-tier education and stellar work experience, Democrats sought to sully Gorsuch through his relationships with more controversial figures than himself.

They brought up a billionaire benefactor, a professor from Oxford University with nativist views, a female student who claimed that he implied women take maternity benefits with the intent to quit their jobs. On that last issue, he said his statements were taken out of context, as have other students who were present.

At times, Gorsuch showed frustration, even a touch of anger, that his integrity was being questioned. "Nobody speaks for me, nobody," he said. "I speak for myself."

Read more:

Who is Neil Gorsuch? A guide to the Supreme Court nominee

Neil Gorsuch's confirmation hearings: 5 key things to watch for this week

Blumenthal to Gorsuch: You may have to subpoena Trump over Russian meddling in election