NBC and ABC on Wednesday danced around explicitly explaining that liberal Democrats like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer previously supported Neil Gorsuch when he was up for an appeals court judgeship. Only CBS This Morning went beyond the bland notation of the now-Supreme Court nominee’s “unanimous” approval.
On CBS, Nancy Cordes informed that Gorsuch’s “temperament helped him win unanimous approval from the Senate in 2006 when he was up for appeals court judge.” But unlike the journalists at ABC and NBC, she added, “Among those who did not oppose his nomination then Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and the current Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.”
On ABC’s Good Morning America, Jon Karl played a clip of Donald Trump praising, “When he was nominated to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, he was confirmed by the Senate unanimously. Can you believe that?”
Instead of defining just what that meant, GMA co-host George Stephanopoulos instead insisted, “We saw President Trump up there talk about the fact that judge Gorsuch was approved unanimously by voice vote for his appeals court position. That's not going to happen on this one.”
Terry Moran promptly lectured, “Not going to happen this time around. All these Supreme Court confirmation battles are scorched Earth.”
Over on NBC’s Today, Kristen Welker similarly avoided specificity on the actions of Democrats such as Obama and Clinton: “A native of Denver, Gorsuch was on the tenth circuit court of appeals, appointed by George W. Bush eight years ago he was confirmed unanimously. But it could be a different story this time.”
Considering the attacks on Gorsuch over the coming months may be intense, it would be helpful of reporters at ABC and NBC to explain to their viewers the past support of even liberal Senators.
A transcript of the CBS This Morning segment is below:
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CBS This Morning
2/1/17
7:06AM ETNORAH O’DONNELL: Judge Gorsuch will be on Capitol Hill this morning meeting senators who will decide his nomination. Gorsuch will need to get past Senate Democrats who are still furious that Republicans blocked Judge Merrick Garland's Supreme Court nomination for 293 days. Nancy Cordes is on Capitol Hill with the brewing fight. Nancy, good morning.
NANCY CORDES: Good morning. That’s right. Many Democrats refer to this as a stolen seat. They believe it was President Obama's right to name this Supreme Court justice. They have threatened to hold up the nomination for an undefined period of time. Some have said they are going to vote no. Others say they have a lot of questions.
SENATOR RICHARD BLUMENTHAL: I have very deep, serious concerns as to whether he is in the mainstream.
CORDES: Like many Senate Democrats, Connecticut's Dick Blumenthal expressed skepticism last night, but not outride opposition.
BLUMENTHAL: I'm troubled by his stance on privacy rights, particularly women's health care, worker and consumer protection, public health and safety. I’m going to continue to review his record.
CORDES: Republicans, meanwhile, were thrilled, praising Gorsuch as impressive, a consistent conservative. South Dakota Republican John Thune.
SENATOR JOHN THUNE: I think it's very tough, very tough to attack this judge's credentials. You look at his judicial experience. Great temperament.
CORDES: That temperament helped him win unanimous approval from the Senate in 2006 when he was up for appeals court judge. Among those who did not oppose his nomination then Senators Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and the current Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who has said for weeks he has one key criteria.
SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER: Nominate a mainstream person, not someone way out of the mainstream. If they are out of the mainstream and wouldn’t garner bipartisan support, yeah. We are going to fight that nominee tooth and nail.
CORDES: But last night, Schumer said I have very serious doubting about Judge Gorsuch's ability to meet that standard.
BARACK OBAMA: Today I am nominating Chief Judge Merrick Brian Garland.
CORDES: And Democrats are in no mood to hand Democrats an easy victory after they successfully blocked President Obama’s nominee for ten months. Republican leader Mitch McConnell insists it’s apples and oranges.
SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL: This is the beginning of a four-year term. This is not in the middle of a presidential election.
CORDES: It takes 60 votes to confirm a Supreme Court judge but Republicans have left that option open to knock that down to 51, to blow up the filibuster depending how long Democrats stall. They view that as a last resort, though, Charlie, because it could come back to bite Republicans when they're in the minority.
