Confirmation Hearing For Supreme Court Pick Begins Tomorrow
WHITFIELD: All right. Tomorrow President Trump's pick for Supreme Court justice, Neil Gorsuch, will be on Capitol Hill for the start of his confirmation hearing. He could be in for several days of intense questioning. Trump tapped the Colorado Appellate judge to replace the late Antonin Scalia. Gorsuch's confirmation would be a big win for the White House after multiple frustrations and setbacks on confirmations and challenges on Trump's travel ban. Democrats are skeptical of Gorsuch and may try to block him with a filibuster while Republicans are confident he will be confirmed.</s>SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: You know, I think it's 50/50 whether the Democrats filibuster. They don't have any good arguments against Gorsuch, but they're furious that we're going to have a conservative nominated and confirmed. I'll tell you this, Judge Gorsuch will be confirmed. He will either get 60 votes and be confirmed, or otherwise whatever procedural steps are necessary. I believe within a month or two, Neil Gorsuch will be an associate justice of the Supreme Court.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me right now to discuss this is CNN Supreme Court reporter Ariane de Vogue. So will it be easy confirmation for Gorsuch?</s>ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, Fred, because the Supreme Court confirmation hearings, they really represent the first and the last chance for Congress to grill a potential nominee. You know, if Gorsuch is confirmed, he gets life tenure. He's almost untouchable. So tomorrow we'll see the senators use their opening statements to really look at his records. And that's going to last for about three hours. And then we'll hear from Gorsuch. He's really eloquent. He's likely to talk about the limited role of a judge. And then on Tuesday, that's when the tough questions start. You know, the Republicans, they're going to examine his paper trail, and the Democrats are really in a tough position here, Fred. They're furious that Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, didn't get in. But they also know they're replacing a conservative with a conservative. They're returning the court really to the status quo before Scalia's death. They may choose here to save some firepower. Just in case Trump down the road gets another nominee, maybe somebody who is, you know, more liberal. So we'll see what happens tomorrow.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. So you mentioned the Monday and a Tuesday. But you know, it wasn't that long ago that a hearing for a Supreme Court justice might be 90 minutes long. You know, in today's political climate they go days long. So what's the expectation as to how long it could go this week or into a following week?</s>DE VOGUE: Well, you're absolutely right. They used to be much shorter. Right now we're looking at Monday and then Tuesday and Wednesday for the questions, and then probably it will come to a close on Thursday. That's the goal right now for the Republicans.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Ariane de Vogue, thanks so very much.</s>DE VOGUE: Thank you.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. School kids practicing a missile drill, an entire town bracing for an attack. We'll tell you why this city in Japan is preparing for the worst.