Judge Gorsuch To Testify At Sen. Confirmation Hearing
CABRERA: Judge Neil Gorsuch has all set it up to find before the senate judiciary committee tomorrow for his first day of confirmation hearing. Then, if confirm, Gorsuch would become the first former supreme court clerk to take the bench while one of this former bosses, Justice Anthony Kennedy is actually still sitting on the high court. But with President Trump's revised travel ban possibly headed for the Supreme Court. His confirmation would become a political football. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal has not ruled out, in fact, a filibuster based on a litmus test. Here's what he said to Dan, MSNBC.</s>SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, (D) JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Not only filibuster, but use every tool that we have if he is in fact out of the main stream in that way. Let's remember, we're talking about respect for a well-established, long accepted president, Roe v. Wade certainly fits that description and that kind of out of the main stream thinking will cause media filibuster and use every tool I have at my disposal to block his nomination.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.</s>CABRERA: Back with mw now, CNN Senior Political Analyst David Gergen, thanks so much, David for sticking around. You just heard Senator Blumenthal, senate democrats are so frustrated for nearly a year. Republicans refuse to hold those hearings for President Obama's nominee, Judge Merrick Garland. Did that play into the democrats' strategy to potentially filibuster Gorsuch?</s>GERGEN: Well, I think that they come in in an angry mood. And their anger is justified, I mean, it was unprecedented through, you know, essentially to block the Garland appointment for such a long time, block any kind of vote. That said, I must tell you, Ana, that President Trump has chosen a man in Gorsuch who by all -- by most -- by the assessment of most people who have talked to him and studied his record is within the conservative main stream, he's not way out in the fringes and he's well qualified for the post. He seems to be a humble man. And I think his rollout, the -- one of the best things, he was one of the best day President Trump has had was a rollout of the Gorsuch nomination. So I think that unless there's some blockbuster piece of information about his past that hasn't come to light, Judge Ggorsuch is going to become the next member of the supreme court. What we don't know is whether it's going to require a filibuster. I think it's a hard choice for the democrats about whether they want to be in -- they want to go all out on the Gorsuch nomination or recognize this one so mainstream that you're not going to able to stop it and you're probably not going to be able to demand public support. You want to elect the democratic senators -- go ahead, please.</s>CABRERA: Sorry. Given your expertise and just your history in the White House, are there any parallels between Gorsuch and the Robert Bork situation?</s>GERGEN: No, I don't think there -- Robert Bork was a much more -- much more explosive views, he was much more of a dissenter. He was much more towards -- way out of the mainstream, his views eventually carried a lot of weight within republican circles. But that was a much more controversial nomination, this one is relatively uncontroversial. And to be honest with you, you know, there's been so many others things going on in the Trump administration, there have been so many things like this whole, you know, all the issues we've just been just talking about with the Russians, that's given Judge Gorsuch to rather free pass where press has been much more interested on the more explosive issues.</s>GERGEN: You know, the juicer issues. But here's the -- here's the democratics' face, if -- they can't stop Gorsuch, are they better off giving a free pass to democrats especially those who are in red states up for reelection in 2018 and there are number of them who would then likely vote for Gorsuch. Or -- and do this without a filibuster, so in effect they say, the republicans say, we're -- democrats say, we don't oppose everybody the president puts up but we're going to oppose the next one if he's out of the mainstream. This one is within the mainstream. In other words, they may gain some leverage I think with the public and with the next choice if they show when it comes to somebody in the mainstream, they want to go through, they're not going to block it. Everybody --</s>CABRERA: Exactly. Well, our Supreme Court reporter, when you look behind the curtain of who is Neil Gorsuch, I mean, our Supreme Court reporter tells us that Justice Kennedy was Judge Gorsuch's mentor. But philosophically he aligns more with the late Justice Antonin Scalia as well as well as Clarence Thomas. So what does that tell you about how he might impact this court?</s>GERGEN: Well, I don't think -- I don't think there's any question that he's going to give weight to the conservative side and you're going to expect him to be on the conservative side rather regularly, I think democrats would like to see whether he has an independent mind, if he's willing to stand up to the president. And in particular, on questions revolving around immigration, if the president really were to put a ban on the Muslim entry, if a current case -- travel case comes up, how will he come out on that? And in addition, I think there's legitimate concern on the part of many democrats that as you add republican in and then maybe one more soon, that Roe V. Wade could be under direct threat. But, you know, that's the consequence of an election for better or force worse. Republicans have been fighting for this and the -- this election was a real gift to the republicans in terms of building a long-term change in the -- in our judicial branch. If President Obama changed it one way, President Trump is very likely going to change it in a very dramatic way toward a more conservative court.</s>CABRERA: And some of the Trump voters who I talked to back when we were covering the election said that that is the very reason they were voting for Trump was because of the Supreme Court seat. David Gergen.</s>GERGEN: Absolutely, Ana. You're absolutely right.</s>CABRERA: Thank you so much for joining us, always great to hear your expertise. Coming up, healthcare holdouts, skeptical republicans meet with Trump's senior staff at Mar-a-Lago. Can they win them over before this crucial vote this week. That story next.