WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today joined “New Day” on CNN to discuss Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court, President Trump’s attacks on the judiciary, and the legality of the President’s recent travel ban.

“Frankly what matters here is whether or not Judge Gorsuch, who will be up for confirmation for the Supreme Court, in meetings with Senators and then ultimately publicly demonstrates judicial independence, demonstrates his understanding that an independent judiciary is one of the cornerstones of our constitutional order, and that President Trump’s recent comments personally attacking or challenging judges, who are delaying or may ultimately overturn his travel ban, deserve respect not to be attacked,” said Senator Coons. “President Trump is not responding well to a challenge to his unvetted—I think illegal—travel ban that affects seven different majority-Muslim countries. District Court judges in several different districts across the country have stayed that ban, have challenged that ban and it’s now being considered by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for an emergency stay of that order and I think President Trump is going to harm both Judge Gorsuch’s chances of confirmation and his standing as president if he continues to undermine the independence of the federal judiciary.

Full audio and video of the interview are available here.

Excerpts from the interview:

Senator Coons on President Trump’s tweets about Judge Gorsuch’s comments: “This back and forth just makes me feel like I’m back at high school. Frankly what matters here is whether or not Judge Gorsuch, who will be up for confirmation for the Supreme Court, in meetings with Senators and then ultimately publicly demonstrates judicial independence, demonstrates his understanding that an independent judiciary is one of the cornerstones of our constitutional order, and that President Trump’s recent comments personally attacking or challenging judges, who are delaying or may ultimately overturn his travel ban, deserve respect not to be attacked.”

Senator Coons on his opinion about whether Judge Gorsuch should speak publicly about his concerns about President Trump: “In my meeting with Judge Gorsuch, I will also ask him about judicial independence and I think, in due course, we will ask him about that during the confirmation hearing. I do not think it’s constructive for President Trump to weigh in on this and to level accusations against sitting Senators. I frankly think the more he stays out of this the better for his judicial nominee, but this simply highlights why judicial independence is going to be so important for me and for other Senators as we go through the process of meeting Judge Gorsuch and considering whether or not he should serve on the Supreme Court.”

Senator Coons on how President Trump targeted Senator Blumenthal after the Senator revealed Judge Gorsuch’s opinion of the President: “I think we need to focus on the larger issue here rather than the he said, she said about what Blumenthal or Gorsuch did or didn’t say. The larger issue is that judicial independence is at risk. President Trump is not responding well to a challenge to his unvetted—I think illegal—travel ban that affects seven different majority-Muslim countries. District Court judges in several different districts across the country have stayed that ban, have challenged that ban and it’s now being considered by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for an emergency stay of that order and I think President Trump is going to harm both Judge Gorsuch’s chances of confirmation and his standing as president if he continues to undermine the independence of the federal judiciary.” 

Senator Coons on his meeting later today at the White House with President Trump: “We have not met in the White House before. I met him over at Dover Air Force Base last week when we received the remains of an American SEAL killed in action in Yemen. I’m going to press him on the point that I think his executive order was not well-conceived and should be withdrawn, and that frankly I think his challenging the independence of the Judiciary isn’t helping and hope he might yet make more measured comments and understand the importance of the separation of powers. I do continue to hope that we will find some way to work together on the problems facing America, strengthening manufacturing. You just had Senator Cory Gardner on. Senator Gardner and I are introducing a bipartisan bill today to help small manufacturers. There are things we could do together, but as long as President Trump keeps engaging in his first three weeks as President in this style of tweeting constantly and of upsetting our allies abroad and undermining, I think, our constitutional order here at home, it will be difficult for us to find a positive common path together.”

Senator Coons on whether he should oppose Judge Gorsuch because he is not Merrick Garland: “All last year, I said in the Judiciary Committee and on the floor that it was outrageous that Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans here in the Senate refused to give him even a hearing and I think for me to do the same thing back to Republicans would be hypocrisy, so I’ve said he deserves a hearing – the hearing that Judge Garland never got. That respects the American people and allows my constituents to hear his background, experience and constitutional philosophy and I think we should have that hearing on the Judiciary Committee. After that, I think we should see. But, I don’t agree that we should simply refuse to even consider his nomination.”

Senator Coons on the legality of President Trump’s travel ban: “I think it is an arguable case, as are so many, but as I looked at the details of how it was prepared, how it was implemented and what its impacts will be I think it goes against the Immigration and Naturalization Act, because it does discriminate based on nationality and religion, and I frankly think that the way it was implemented shows it violates at least the spirit if not the letter of the Constitution. The President made it clear in his campaign for the presidency that he intended to impose a Muslim ban and this is, in fact, a ban on Muslim countries. So, I think we’ll leave it to the courts to determine whether they see it as unconstitutional, but I certainly think it is illegal.” 

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