The Latest: FBI Investigation Complicates Gorsuch Nomination

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch (all times local): Breitbart reports.

9 a.m.

Some liberal interest groups and advocates are calling on the Senate to put off confirmation of President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee while the FBI is investigating possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe tweeted Tuesday morning that it’s a “sensible rule” to withhold approval for nominee Neil Gorsuch for as long as the investigation continues.

Gorsuch is to spend a long day Tuesday answering questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut is among those who already have tried to link the FBI probe to the nomination. Blumenthal said Monday that the prospect that the court could have to weigh in on the issue at some point is not “idle speculation.

3 a.m.

Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch faces hours of questioning from senators as frustrated Democrats are determined to press him on everything from abortion and guns to his independence from President Donald Trump.

Republicans are unanimously supporting Gorsuch, and certain to give him what cover they can as he appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for Day 2 of his confirmation hearings on Tuesday. But Democrats made clear on the first day that they were in no mood to “rubber stamp a nominee selected by extreme interest groups and nominated by a president who lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes,” as Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont put it.

Gorsuch himself sought to emphasize his strong belief in the separation of powers in his opening statement, pledging to be independent or “hang up the robe.” Seeking to take the edge off Democratic complaints that he has favored the wealthy and powerful in more than 10 years as a federal judge, the 49-year-old Coloradan said he has tried to be a “neutral and independent” judge.

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