戈薩奇面臨黨派劃界的確認聽證質詢

President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, federal appellate Judge Neil Gorsuch, faces questioning Tuesday from a sharply divided Senate panel on the second day of his confirmation hearings.

The proceedings began Monday with opening statements, including one from Gorsuch, who made clear his conservative leanings by speaking out against judicial activism.

“It's for this body, the people's representatives [in Congress] to make new laws,” Gorsuch said. “If judges were just secret legislators, declaring not what the law is but what they would like it to be, the very idea of a government by the people and for the people would be at risk.”

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee praised Gorsuch's conservative judicial philosophy while Democrats voiced concerns that he would solidify what they view as the Supreme Court's pro-corporate leanings.

“No matter your politics, you should be concerned about the preservation of our constitutional order, and most importantly the separation of powers,” said the committee's chairman, Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican. “Fortunately for every American, we have before us today a nominee whose body of professional work is defined by an unfailing commitment to these principles.”

“Our job is to assess how this nominee's decisions will impact the American people, and whether he will protect the legal and constitutional rights of all Americans, not just the wealthy and the powerful,” said the committee's top Democrat, Senator Dianne Feinstein of California.美國總統川普提名的聯邦最高法院大法官人選、現任聯邦上訴法官尼爾·戈薩奇，星期二進入他確認聽證會的第二天，他將面對一個涇渭分明的參議院委員會的質疑。

確認聽證會從星期一的開場陳述開始，包括戈薩奇的自述。他在發言中表明瞭自己反對司法能動主義的明確的保守傾向。

戈薩奇說，“是這個機構，這些人民的代表（國會）制定新的法律，”他說， “如果法官只是祕密的立法者，宣佈的不是法律代表什麼，而是他們希望的是什麼，那麼一個民治、民享的政府這一根本理念就會面臨危險。”

參議院司法委員會的共和黨人讚揚了戈薩奇的保守司法理念，而民主黨人則表示擔心他會加強他們所認爲是最高法院的支持大公司的傾向。

委員會主席、來自愛奧華州的共和黨人葛拉斯理說：“不管你的政治理念如何，你應該關注的是維護我們的憲政秩序，包括最重要的分權。”他說，“美國人民所幸的是，我們今天有一位提名人，其專業工作的整體便是由對這些原則的堅定承諾決定的。”

委員會最資深的民主黨人、來自加利福尼亞州的范斯坦說，“我們的工作是評估這名提名人的決定將如何影響美國人民，以及他是否將保護所有美國人，而不僅僅是富人和強權的法律和憲法權利”。