美国总统川普提名的联邦最高法院大法官人选、现任联邦上诉法官尼尔·戈萨奇，星期二进入他确认听证会的第二天，他将面对一个泾渭分明的参议院委员会的质疑。
确认听证会从星期一的开场陈述开始，包括戈萨奇的自述。他在发言中表明了自己反对司法能动主义的明确的保守倾向。
戈萨奇说，“是这个机构，这些人民的代表（国会）制定新的法律，”他说， “如果法官只是秘密的立法者，宣布的不是法律代表什么，而是他们希望的是什么，那么一个民治、民享的政府这一根本理念就会面临危险。”
参议院司法委员会的共和党人赞扬了戈萨奇的保守司法理念，而民主党人则表示担心他会加强他们所认为是最高法院的支持大公司的倾向。
委员会主席、来自爱奥华州的共和党人葛拉斯理说：“不管你的政治理念如何，你应该关注的是维护我们的宪政秩序，包括最重要的分权。”他说，“美国人民所幸的是，我们今天有一位提名人，其专业工作的整体便是由对这些原则的坚定承诺决定的。”
委员会最资深的民主党人、来自加利福尼亚州的范斯坦说，“我们的工作是评估这名提名人的决定将如何影响美国人民，以及他是否将保护所有美国人，而不仅仅是富人和强权的法律和宪法权利”。
President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, federal appellate Judge Neil Gorsuch, faces questioning Tuesday from a sharply divided Senate panel on the second day of his confirmation hearings.
The proceedings began Monday with opening statements, including one from Gorsuch, who made clear his conservative leanings by speaking out against judicial activism.
“It’s for this body, the people’s representatives [in Congress] to make new laws,” Gorsuch said. “If judges were just secret legislators, declaring not what the law is but what they would like it to be, the very idea of a government by the people and for the people would be at risk.”
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee praised Gorsuch’s conservative judicial philosophy while Democrats voiced concerns that he would solidify what they view as the Supreme Court’s pro-corporate leanings.
“No matter your politics, you should be concerned about the preservation of our constitutional order, and most importantly the separation of powers,” said the committee’s chairman, Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican. “Fortunately for every American, we have before us today a nominee whose body of professional work is defined by an unfailing commitment to these principles.”
“Our job is to assess how this nominee’s decisions will impact the American people, and whether he will protect the legal and constitutional rights of all Americans, not just the wealthy and the powerful,” said the committee’s top Democrat, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California.