5 things to know from Gorsuch confirmation hearing

Senators got their first opportunity to pose questions to President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch on Tuesday on the second day of confirmation hearings.

Gorsuch mostly batted away Democrats' efforts to get him to reveal his views on abortion, guns and other controversial issues, insisting he keeps "an open mind for the entire process" when he issues rulings. He answered friendly questions from majority Republicans in the same way as they tried to help him highlight his neutrality in face of Democratic attempts to link him to Mr. Trump, who nominated him.

As a long day of questioning wore on, senators and Gorsuch engaged in a routine well-established in recent confirmation hearings, as the nominee resists all requests to say how he feels about Supreme Court decisions, even as he is asked about them again and again.

Here are five things you might have missed from the second day of confirmation hearings.

Gorsuch on judicial independence

The hearing got underway with questions from Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Grassley asked Gorsuch to "describe, in any way you want to, what judicial independence means, and specifically tell us whether you have any trouble ruling against a president who appointed you."

"That's a softball, Mr. Chairman," Gorsuch told Grassley, drawing laughter in the committee room.

"I have no difficulty ruling against or for any party other than based on what the law and the facts in a particular case require."

Gorsuch went on to say that "there's no such thing as a Republican judge or a Democratic judge. We just have judges in this country."

"My personal views, I tell you, Mr. Chairman, are over here. I leave those at home," Gorsuch said.

"No man is above the law"

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham asked Gorsuch whether Mr. Trump had the authority to reinstitute torture as an interrogation method.

Graham suggested Mr. Trump might be watching the hearing, and asked Gorsuch what would happen if the president tried to reinstate waterboarding, the now-banned torture technique that Mr. Trump embraced on the campaign trail. Graham suggested that Mr. Trump "might get impeached" if he tried to do so.

"Senator, the impeachment power belongs to this body," Gorsuch said, but when Graham followed up on whether Mr. Trump could be subject to prosecution, Gorsuch said: "No man is above the law, no man."

Gorsuch: "I would have walked out the door"

In another exchange, Graham asked Gorsuch whether Mr. Trump had asked him to overturn Roe v. Wade, the case establishing a right to abortion, and what he would have done had Mr. Trump asked him to do so.

"Senator, I would have walked out the door," Gorsuch replied. "That's not what judges do."

In response to an earlier question about abortion from California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the highest-ranking Democrat on the committee, Gorsuch said judges have tools to narrow the realm of admissible dispute between parties, but said the court's Roe v. Wade ruling has been "affirmed many times."

Gorsuch on Trump's travel ban

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont asked Gorsuch about freedom of religion and his position on Mr. Trump's executive orders banning travel from several predominantly Muslim countries.

Asked if a blanket religious test is constitutional, Gorsuch said that the Constitution guarantees free exercise of religion and religious liberties, but said he couldn't comment on any specific cases.

Gorsuch cited the First and 14th Amendments as safeguards against discrimination. He also mentioned the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which he said imposes an even higher standard on the government when it comes to religious discrimination.

Leahy quoted a congressman who expressed hope Gorsuch that would uphold Mr. Trump's travel ban, which has been blocked in federal court.

"He has no idea how I'd rule in that case," Gorsuch said. "And senator, I'm not going to say anything here that would give anybody any idea how I'd rule in any case like that that could come before the Supreme Court or the 10th Circuit. It would be grossly improper of a judge to do that."

Heated questions over trucker case

Gorsuch said a case involving a truck driver who was fired for disobeying a boss' order "is one of those you take home at night."

The most heated exchange on the case came during questioning by Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken. "I had a career in identifying absurdity. And this is absurd," the former comedian said.

Gorsuch dissented in a 2016 decision regarding a truck driver fired after his boss told him to stay with his cargo after the brakes on his trailer froze. But the driver himself reported freezing due to a heater malfunction, so he unhitched the trailer and drove off.

A majority of judges said federal law protected drivers from dismissal when they refuse to operate an unsafe vehicle. But Gorsuch said the driver wasn't refusing to drive. He told the Senate Judiciary Committee that his "job is to write the law and apply the law."