Gorsuch confirmed to Supreme Court without support of Illinois’ senators

April 07--As expected, Democratic U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois voted against confirming Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court on Friday, but he will the take the bench after the Senate voted 54-45 in favor of the nomination.

Republicans have a 52-48 Senate majority, so the vote largely was along party lines, with few Democratic defections. One member, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., did not vote.

Durbin, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee that vetted Gorsuch, opposed him in a party-line committee vote Monday.

Before the committee vote, Durbin said that during 10 years on the Denver-based Court of Appeals, Gorsuch had "favored corporations, employers and special-interest elites" over "workers, consumers, people with disabilities and victims of discrimination."

He also complained Gorsuch had received a "stamp of approval" from conservative GOP groups, naming the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society.

Durbin, speaking Friday from the floor before the vote, continued to assail Senate Republicans' refusal to hold nomination hearings or a vote on a suburban Chicago native, Judge Merrick Garland, whom President Barack Obama put up for the Supreme Court in March 2016.

Garland is the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington.

Also Friday, Durbin condemned a Senate rules change a day earlier that allowed Gorsuch to be confirmed by a majority vote, not the usual 60 votes.

"A lifetime appointment to the highest court of the land should be more than just a bare majority vote," Durbin said.

Duckworth entered the Senate in January. That meant Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's pick for the Supreme Court, was the first high court nominee she evaluated.

She announced her opposition to Gorsuch on March 30, citing concerns with his past rulings and noting he had canceled a scheduled meeting with her.

Duckworth said she was worried about Gorsuch's "predilection for putting corporate profits ahead of people time and again" and "his troubling rulings on disability rights, civil rights, reproductive rights and other issues."

In a dig at Gorsuch's four-day appearance before the Judiciary Committee, she scoffed: "Earning a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court requires much more than a genial demeanor and an ability to artfully dodge even the most pointed of questions."

He will take the seat that became vacant when Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016.

Gorsuch is expected to be sworn in as an associate justice early next week.

kskiba@chicagotribune.com

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