Chuck Schumer

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., followed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., arrives for a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

(J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer expressed doubts Tuesday night about Judge Neil Gorsuch, saying President Donald Trump's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court will likely take an ideological approach to the job.

"Judge Gorsuch has repeatedly sided with corporations over working people, demonstrated a hostility toward women's rights, and most troubling, hewed to an ideological approach to jurisprudence that makes me skeptical that he can be a strong, independent Justice on the Court," Schumer said after Trump's announcement.

Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, said his caucus will "require an exhaustive, robust, and comprehensive debate on Judge Gorsuch's fitness to be a Supreme Court Justice." But he stopped short of saying Democrats will oppose the nomination.

We also need a SCOTUS justice who will stand up to a President who has already shown a willingness to bend the Constitution. — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 1, 2017

Here is Schumer's full statement:

A little more than a week into the Trump presidency, the new Administration has violated our core values, challenged the separation of powers, and tested the very fabric of our Constitution in unprecedented fashion. It is clear that the Supreme Court will be tried in ways that few Courts have been tested since the earliest days of the Republic, when Constitutional questions abounded.

Now more than ever, we need a Supreme Court Justice who is independent, eschews ideology, who will preserve our democracy, protect fundamental rights, and will stand up to a President who has already shown a willingness to bend the Constitution.

The Senate must insist upon 60-votes for any Supreme Court nominee, a bar that was met by each of President Obama's nominees. The burden is on Judge Neil Gorsuch to prove himself to be within the legal mainstream and, in this new era, willing to vigorously defend the Constitution from abuses of the Executive branch and protect the constitutionally enshrined rights of all Americans.

Given his record, I have very serious doubts about Judge Gorsuch's ability to meet this standard. Judge Gorsuch has repeatedly sided with corporations over working people, demonstrated a hostility toward women's rights, and most troubling, hewed to an ideological approach to jurisprudence that makes me skeptical that he can be a strong, independent Justice on the Court.

Make no mistake, Senate Democrats will not simply allow but require an exhaustive, robust, and comprehensive debate on Judge Gorsuch's fitness to be a Supreme Court Justice.

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