During the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch on Monday, Senator Pat Leahy (D-VT) stated that Gorsuch is “a nominee selected by extreme interest groups, and nominated by a president who lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.” Leahy began by talking about the refusal to hold hearings on Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court, saying, “Some liken it to the action of the tyrannical kings, who claim they have sole control, as one our senators referred to here a few minutes ago. But it was a blockade backed by then candidate Donald Trump. Committee Republicans met behind closed doors and declared that they would surrender the independence of this committee to do the majority leader’s bidding, and they ignored the Constitution in the process. In fact, this unprecedented obstruction is one of the greatest stains on the 200-year history of this committee. The — remember, the Judiciary Committee once stood against a court-packing scheme of a Democratic president, that would have eroded judicial independence, and that was a proud moment. Now, Republicans on this committee are guilty of their own court-unpacking scheme, and the blockade of Chief Judge Merrick Garland