‘That’s How We Do Things in the West’
10th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neil Gorsuch this week has been bragging to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his record, going so far as to say that out West people listen to one another – as if judges in the other appellate circuits somehow are morally hearing-impaired.
In this brief clip, Judge Gorsuch, attempting to convince Senators from both parties he should be placed on the U.S. Supreme Court, brags about his record while slapping down other courts:
But as ThinkProgress Justice Editor Ian Millhiser reports Wednesday morning, “While Gorusch was testifying, the Supreme Court unanimously said he was wrong.”
About 40 minutes after Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch began his second day of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, all eight of the justices he hopes to join said a major disability decision Gorsuch wrote in 2008 was wrong.
Both the Supreme Court’s decision and Gorsuch’s 2008 opinion involved the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which requires that public school systems which take certain federal funds provide a “free appropriate public education†to certain students with disabilities.
The bottom line in this case is the Supreme Court overruled Gorsuch, who had stated in his ruling that as long as a school district offers anything more than an education “so minor as to merit disregard†they were following the law.
As this is being written, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin is questioning Judge Gorsuch on this. We’ll update with video shortly. Stay tuned.
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