gorsuch. >> brown: what is known of neil gorsuch's views? among his early writings: a book on assisted suicide arguing against the practice and for the "inviolability" of human life. and a "national review" article, from before he became a judge, critical of liberals who "have become addicted to the courtroom rather than elected leaders and the ballot box, as the primary means of effecting their social agenda." in a prominent and contentious case, judge gorsuch sided with "hobby lobby stores," which objected to a requirement under the affordable care act that it provide contraception coverage. that decision was later upheld by the supreme court. but he's also written on the needs of low-income litigants and prisoners, calling for more affordable legal services and better representation in death penalty cases. gorsuch was personally close to justice scalia. in a speech last year at case western reserve, he spoke of being on the ski slopes when he learned of scalia's death. >> i immediately lost what breath i had left. and i'm not embarrassed

. >> gorsuch. >> neil gorsuch. >> you to think the senate should confirm, yes, no, maybe? >> maybe. i think so, yes, but i have to hear some more about him. because god knows what's going on. >> i don't know anything about him yet. so i'm waiting to hear. >> i would like to hear what he has to say, however what i've read about him, on both sides, is good. both sides think he's a very good, decent man. holding you back or is it your allergy pills? break through your allergies. introducing flonase sensimist. more complete allergy relief in a gentle mist you may not even notice. using unique mistpro technology, new flonase sensimist delivers a gentle mist to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. most allergy pills only block one. and six is greater than one. break through your allergies. new flonase sensimist. ♪ youthat's why you drink ensure. sidelined. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. that had built his house once thout of straw.

who is neil gorsuch. we have his former clerk on the show who knows him well, conservative legal scholars who think he's great. we have civil rights leaders, law professors, pete williams fromnbc. i don't want to be overl promotional, but we have some of the greatest legal minds on all sides of this issue. it's going to be excited. 5:00 to 7:00. >> fantastic. >> richard, on your advice, i am going to dress up more and put on a time by 5:00 p.m. >> it's going to be a great show. i always watch it myself. thanks for stopping by. >> thank you. >>> again, ari's two-hour special on the eve of the confirmation hearing for judge neil gorsuch. it's called "supreme confirmation clash" starting at the top of the hour on msnbc. >>> more now on the issue of neil gorsuch, leading democrats are criticized about the newly released e-mails adding more fuel to the fire. that raises questions about his role in helping the bush administration advance its policies on torture and the guantanamo detainees. the new documents co

today neil gorsuch was willing to play the game. he couldn't possibly offer his opinion about the case because of that meaningless and false and relatively short senate confirmation tradition that says you can't possibly be a fair supreme court justice if you've ever thought about any case that may come before you in any form. of course exactly the opposite is true. presidents are looking for highly educated lawyers who have already been through the senate confirmation process at least once and sometimes twice as federal judges and appeals court judges. and that they're the kind of people who think about this stuff every day. but in the senate confirm ago he -- confirmation hearings, they have to pretend they haven't and they have to pretend there's no hypothetical case they could ethically answer in their conformation hearings pause then no one would believe they could be fair in a case resembling that came to the supreme court. here's neil gorsuch today playing that game. >> it's a blanket religious test. is that consistent with t

supreme court nominee judge neil gorsuch. a group of senators along with former gorsuch clerks gathered on the steps of the stream supreme court last hour to make their case. here's senators chuck grassley and lindsey graham. >> he's easily cleared every hurdle in place of him in front of him for this position. it leaves me then very stunned why there's this talk about a filibuster. it's quite clear that if he isn't qualified, then nobody is. >> to my democratic colleagues, if he can't get 60 votes, neil gorsuch, that tells me that you don't care about qualifications any longer. i voted for sotomayor and kagan under the obama administration. i would not have chosen either one but i thought they were well qualified. >> joining us now senator jeff merkley of oregon, one of 28 democrats saying or at least suggesting they would go ahead and filibuster. he's joining us live from capitol hill. thanks for joining us. >> you're welcome. good to be with you. >> so you were one of the first to say you would vote against judge neil gors

what -- how do you think neil gorsuch did? >> i mean, paul, neil gorsuch did exceptionally well during these hearings. there's no question that from start to finish, he showed himself to be a fair-minded judge. he also really showed a lot of intellectual depth and rigor in his conversations with the senators, and, you know, i think the clip you played earlier was very inform ty because this is a situation where when you've ruled in as many cases as he has, of course there's going to be decisions for the little guy, of course there's going to be decisions for the big guy. if you follow the law where it leads, which is what we want out of our j to go both ways -- paul: colin, democrats were looking here, most of them want to find a way, a reason to oppose him. so they were look for him to make a mistake, maybe say something about a hot button issue that they can then say, aha, i can vote against you. did he fall into that trap? >> no, not at all, paul. that's the funny part here. the one case they kept coming back to is is this

do you think democrats were fair to judge neil gorsuch today? not really but it's going to get worse. go to facebook.com/seanhannity, @seanhannity on twitter. time to play some of the messages. hits me with your best shot. >> i was wondering why you always throw the football at the end of every show. because you like football? do you have a favorite team? >> i hate hannity. can't stand the jerk. >> hannity: i throw the football because it's fun and we throw it before the show, after the show. we do it for a good time. to the woman who hates me, i don't think i can do anything to make you like me. i will not lose sleep over it. say something, call the number on your screen, 877-225-8587. that's all the time we have this evening. thank you for being with us. we will see you tomorrow night. >> bill: "the o'reilly factor" is on tonight. >> i have no difficulty ruling for or against any party. >> i firmly believe the u.s. constitution is a living document, intended to evolve as our country evolves. >> bill: the most politically important story of the

neil gorsuch probably benefited from the lack of coverage. but it's interesting to see how little people probably know what he was saying because the coverage is virtually nonexistent. howie: cnn and msnbc didn't even take gorsuch's opening statement because they were on the comey hearings. is there frustration merrick garland never got a hearing? >> they will bring that up to attack this nominee. but during the campaign hillary clinton refused to promise she herself would renominate mr. merrick garland. howie: but he was president obama's nominee. >> i think the point is you have democrats who are not going along -- they haven't said yes to chuck schumer's threat to filibuster in gorsuch. howie: whether that materializes, do you think the effort will be portrayed in the press as obstructionism or justifiable payback back to the garland nomination next year. >> depend on the press you are talking about. howie: the mainstream press. >> i don't any there is a mainstream press that is not opinion either. the reality is nothing * will be portraye

>> i think that's neil gorsuch but i'm not sure. >> that is judge neil gorsuch and he's up for the supreme court confirmation hearings on monday. do you think the senate should confirm? yes, no or maybe? >> absolutely yes. >> and why? >> well, trump promised to nominate someone in the mold of scalia and he fits the bill. >> welcome back to our supreme court special. confirmation clash. trump supporters, like that one i just spoke with in times square, says they want another scalia on the court. trump's largest legal controversy about flexing executive power on immigration. an independent scalia-style judge may block trump there. consider that when president bush claimed he had authority to maintain american citizens at gitmo, scalia went farther than any other justice to reject that argument saying the idea that liberty gives away to security has no place in the constitution. there's a similar clash on trump's travel a ban. courts blocking it this week as an abuse of executive power. the last time a big immigration se hit the sup court, it deadlocked 4-4. gorsuch's use on this issue could

neil gorsuch, just because they disagree with where he think he will be, that is tough. you get to vote on the person come by to filibuster and ruin their opportunity to filibuster later over neil gorsuch, i think it is laughable. it is so perfunctory. it is so obvious he will end up on the court and they need to save their fight for another day. >> bret: gorsuch by the numbers presided over 2750 cases, went to verdict our judgment, has written 175 majority opinions, 65 concurrences or dissents on his decade on the circuit, has met with 72 senate tours and so far in person. he is making a pitch that he is a mainstream jurist. >> the m.o. for republican nominees in the supreme court has been to sabotage their nominees. that is not going to happen with gorsuch. he is so beloved. the hit that they tried to pull out on him, he had a wealthy quiet he served well. he engaged an ethics question in an ethics course. it is sad to watch. when you see people saying they will vote against them when they have no actual reasons to vote against them, it looks like partisan posturing. >

the neil gorsuch in those e-mails was looking for a job. here is a message you sent to matt schl app, president bush's political director. this was in november 2004 just after president bush won reelection. quote, i spent some time in ohio working on the election -- this is you. what a magnificent result for the country. for me personally the experience was invigorating and a great deal of fun. that doesn't sound like someone who steers clear of politics to me. you went on to write, quote, while i have spent considerable time trying to help the cause on a volunteer basis in various roles, i concluded that i'd really like to be a full-time member of the team. you attached your resume, which describes in detail your work and support of political campaigns and candidates. basically you had worked on republican political campaigns since 1976. you had worked for reagan, bush one, bush two. you were cited for distinguished service to the united states senate for work in support of president bush's judicial nominees by the senate republican confer

to become a neil gorsuch. straight ahead. (alarms) where's the car? it'll be here in three...uh, four minutes. are you kidding me? no, looks like he took a wrong turn. don't worry, this guy's got like a four-star rating, we're good. his name is randy. ike one of the most trustworthy names! ordering a getaway car with an app? are you randy? that's me! awesome! surprising. what's not surprising? how much money erin saved by switching to geico. everybody comfortable with the air temp? i could go a little cooler. ok. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. if you have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's, and your symptoms have left you with the same view, it may be time for a different perspective. if other treatments haven't worked well enough, ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's. entyvio works by focusing right in the gi-tract to help control damaging inflammation and is clinically proven to begin helping many patients achieve both symptom relief as well as remissio

gorsuch and the rule of law will be better for it.capito, h justice neil gorsuch and the rule of law will be better for it. president trump and i are confident that the united states senate will confirm judge neil gorsuch one way or the other. it is great to be in west virginia. my friends, we've come to a pivotal moment in our nation's history. in this moment, i think we need every freedom loving american, we need all of you to stand up, to speak out, to take time as you've done today to come and be engaged and be involved. we need you to keep telling your neighbors here in west virginia we can do better. that we're renewing and restoring this country, that we can put america back on a path to a brighter future. and this i know we will do. because i have faith. you know, over the mantle of our home since my first run for office back in the year 2000 has been a framed copy of a verse from the good book. it was in our home in indiana. it was in the governor's residence in indiana when i served there. and now it hangs above the mantle in the home of the vice president of the united sta

. >> bret: judge neil gorsuch is still on the hot seat on capitol hill after a long day of questioning. this is president trump heads to capitol hill to make the final sale on the american health care act. this is "special report" ." good evening. welcome to washington. congress is weighing the odds on two big items, confirming the next supreme court justice and voting to repeal and replace obamacare. at this hour, judge neil gorsuch continues to sit through what will probably be the toughest job interview he will ever have as senators grow president trump's nominee to be the next supreme court justice. if democrats don't like what they hear, it could force republicans to go nuclear. the senate majority leader reiterated judge gorsuch will be approved either way. meantime, the president himself issued his own warning today about thursday's vote to repeal and replace obamacare in the house. chief white house correspondent john roberts is at the white house. the president's ominous political forecast to house republicans should they vote no. shannon bream with an update on the marathon g

. >> judge neil gorsuch's hearing is now underway in the senate. i urge members of both parties to swiftly approve his nomination. he is an outstanding man from an outstanding family with an unbelievably wonderful wife. >> president trump talked about the judge gorsuch hearing but no mention tonight of the bombshell testimony from fbi director james comey confirming it ongoing investigation on whether or not there was any collusion between the trump campaign and russia. >> tucker: in some form. the line of the night. >> in some form. >> tucker: fbi director comey was not the only big name to appear on the hill today. a confirmation hearing for judge neil gorsuch, a full 47 days after the president nominated him to the supreme court. a lot happened, for more in details we to trace gallagher.r >> hey, several democratic senators have already vowed to oppose neil gorsuch and block his nomination from coming to a final vote in their opening statement, they tried to tie gorsuch to president trump -- while billing him as a threat to workers and women. de

don't forget, neil gorsuch, neil gorsuch, neil gorsuch! i can stay here all day, neil gorsuch. >> you remind me of kevin bacon. remain calm! all is well. that's all we have. we'll be back next week, i promise. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press "and let me hope one final four team survives for me. we'll be back. ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> and hello, everyone. i'm richard lui in new york c y city. welcome to the pulse of america where your voice can be heard in real-time. here are the stories. first off, president trump preparing to blame president ryan and the freedom caucus for the failure of the republican health care plan. this as meshes call for the parties to work together and fix obamacare. also, the house chairman facing more

talking about and judge neil gorsuch. joining us now with reaction, jay, allen. we use the term working. remember clarence thomas, high-tech lynching. this man will now be smeared, slandered, besmirched by the same guys who supported him for the tenth circuit. >> yeah, ten years ago when he came up to be voted on i think it was unanimous. when are they going to come up and say we disappears review because of the last ten years? that to be very specific instead of these verywhen you have the t coming out, any of the democrats that support him going into the primary, look, they did and become such judicial obstacles in everything for this president because what is going to happen to them in 2018? i don't want to hear anything else about the gentleman that president obama nominated because it was joe biden and chuck schumer who said no president should be allowed to bring someone in an election year. >> sean: speaking of which, jay, maybe joe mansion, maybe being scared to death about 2016 -- i see a nuclear option and he will be on the supreme court. >> i will tell

senate confirmation hearings are set to begin for supreme court nominee neil gorsuch. and remembering rock n' roll pioneer chuck berry. >> he moved the guitar front and center in rock and roll to defined that the was the instrument and that the sound. >> sreenivasan: next on "pbs newshour weekend." >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the john and helen glessner family trust-- supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: good evening and thanks for joining us. the republican party's health care p

, neil gorsuch would differ his jurisprudence from justice scalia? >> well, one area that judge gorsuch has highlighted is his skepticism of so-called chevron deference -- paul: that's the executive branch authority. >> right. this basically, chevron deference means that when, when a statute is ambiguous, the courts will defer to administrative agencies' interpretation of the statute. so you can have an agency in one administration say a statute means x -- paul: right. >> -- in the next administration it means y, and in the next administration it means not x. and judge gorsuch has called into question the soundness of that approach. justice scalia was a strong defender of chevron deference, though i think in his later years he heavy had some second thoughts about how it was being applied. paul: well, think about the irony of that. you've got donald trump who everybody is saying, is afraid he's going to run rampant with executive our, and he's nominated a justice who is skeptical of executive branch discretion when it comes to interpreting statutes. i

neil gorsuch deserves that. i am committed to having him on the supreme court.

as judge neil gorsuch confirmation push gets under way, democrat richard blumenthal says he'll use every tool he has to prevent his swearing in. he'll join us in the morning, as well as republican senator john corn cornyn. you're watching "morning joe."

trump nominated neil gorsuch from colorado, a very solid judicial record. serves on the tenth circuit u.s. worked on my court of appeals. today, they were hearings of the senate because they must approve judge gorsuch. predictably, some liberal politicians do not like the judge simply because he is not a liberal. even though his record is stellar and has philosophy independent, some democratic senators will not vote for him. >> judge gorsuch has also stated that he believes judges should look to the original public meaning of the constitution when they decide what a provision of the constitution means. this is personal, but i find this originalist, judicial philosophy to be really troubling. i firmly believe the american constitution is a living document intended to evolve as our country evolves. >> bill: is senator feinstein should know better. if judges are free to rule on judicial evolution, that means they become politicians. all judges in america should have just one rule. what was the intent of the original constitution? if they reject that and make t

if you thought that were the case for neil gorsuch, i imagine you would think the same thing for the entirety of the agenda. do you think the presence of this ongoing investigation looms so large the president cannot conduct being president of the united states? >> he certainly doesn't act like the president of the united states when he is tweeting what has turned out to be falsities throughout the hearing yesterday. it's remarkable he's not doing the job as president. he's watching a hearing about lies he made about president obama and tweeting further lies. we need him to be a president. there are too many questions about his involvement, his team's involvement with russia as the interference campaign went on that we should suspend any changes towards russia, let's put on the brakes with respect to the supreme court's nomination but that's the senate's business. >> do you have confidence in devin nunes' ability to steer this investigation into any impartial manner whatsoever? >> right now we have heard from the easy consensus witnesses, u.s. government officials. the harder ones --

in the last hour the committee delayed its vote for a week on neil gorsuch, the judge to be a united states supreme court associate justice. chuck schumer, has vowed a fi--o you support a filibuster? >> i want you to know that after four hours of hearings i have concluded i would not be supporting neil gorsuch for this opening. i support a threshold for somebody who's going to be on the highest court in the land who will make decisions for all of us for decades to come and neil gorsuch is not the justice that i would seek to represent all americans, not just the conservative forces that have spent millions of dollars on his behalf. >> have you taken a look at your democratic colleague? to get to 60 eight democrats would need to join s. that realistic from the head county presumably you've done? >> chuck schumer and, i join chuck in encouraging my colleagues to not support neil gorsuch for this opening, so we shall see. i don't think that the republicans have 60 votes and i definitely think that someone who's going to go to the highest court of the land should have a higher threshold

regardless, today was day two of neil gorsuch's confirmation hearings. and the democrats went and there's plenty to say about the balls and strikes of that hearing and how the hearings have been going and all the questions he successfully avoided but to a certain extent, those things seem like the trees when the forest here is this president is under fbi investigation in a counterintelligence probe. until that's forest is this president is under investigation in a probe. should we really be going ahead putting somebody on the supreme court for life. last year president obama nominated merrick gardner. the republicans wouldn't federal budget speak of considering his nomination. the republican objection, their whole problem with him was that barack obama was only going to be president for only a little bit more than a year. he's only got a year left. that's our objection. so they're not going to consider his pick. right now the democratic objection to having hearings on neil gorsuch is that the president is under app fbi counterintelligence investigation f

if neil gorsuch doesn't like like he will get 60, that has nothing to do with neil gorsuch who is completely qualified. if the democrats are doing that, they say what's fair is fair, but it's wrong in both cases. the democratic arguments against gorsuch are pathetic. the core argument is he's the sort of judge a republican candidate nominate for justice. there is no question about his character, his mainstream jurisprudence, his swell generals or qualifications. so to blow up a nuclear option over gorsuch seems to be pointless partisanship which will have long-standing damage to the country. we have the 60 votes, so it forces people to think about being bipartisan. once we get rid of that, you never vo to worry about it again if you're a majority. >> woodruff: makes it more partisan. >> you have to admit he's been forthcoming, under question of dark money, he has been totally -- >> woodruff: we are going to get to that -- >> okay, but i'm not just going to let it pass like that, judy. >> woodruff: you're allowed to say that and so are you. david brooks, mark shields, the thank you both. >> w

. >> bret: does neil gorsuch get in? >> i have some doubts. i think he's been a judge who favored the wealthy economic interests over the middle class. >> bret: are you still going to push to stop neil gorsuch? >> not a single democrat has come out for him. most have not come out against him. people are waiting for the hearing. >> bret: are you worried the nuclear option is going to be used? >> i hope not. harry reid, when he changed the rules, did not do the supreme court at my suggestion. i said it's an important position. i said cabinet too but he didn't listen to me. it's so important, you should get 60 votes. >> bret: you've known donald trump for a long time. he recalled how he helped democrats. despite the politics and the political evolution, do you observe any differences between the man you knew and the man who is now president? >> i will tell you have a lot of his personality traits are the same, whether you like them or not. as a president and president-elect he has moved further to the right and how he campaigned. >> bret: can you

he's also the same one who introduced and glowingly praised neil gorsuch yesterday. so it's a small town in that sense. >> pete williams in our washington bureau, watching all of these various backs and forths with us, the confirmation hearings of judge gorsuch. we want to bring back jennifer palmie palmieri, former communications director for hillary clinton, who has been very patient waiting to come back on the air with us. jennifer, you wanted to talk about something that is actually a very generous and magnanimous view that you hold about the campaign that you lost to, the trump presidential campaign, specifically the way they took on judicial nominations. >> yes, i do. early on in the hearing, it was brute up that judge gorsuch was on a list of potential nominees that the trump campaign put out over the summer, examples of who he would appoint to the supreme court and i very much remember that day, because we knew and the clinton campaign just how potent an issue the supreme court is for a conservative for evangelical voters and trump promised judge gorsuch he's

senator heidi heightcomp is voting to confirm neil gorsuch. show joins joe manchin. both democrats are up in election for states in 2018. they have both broken party lines. in a statement, senator heightcamp said she's disturbed by what happened to judge garland. but she says two wrongs don't make a right. there's not a perfect judge. the u.s. supreme court should be above politics. it looks like judge gorsuch still needs the support of six more democratic lawmakers to avoid a filibuster in the senate. there's several red state candidates that have to get it out. any other sign of democrats coming over to support him? >> there's still 12 undecided democrats in the senate. sources on both sides say it seems unlikely that six of them will end up supporting neil gorsuch's nomination. a lot of anger among democrats that judge garland never got a confirmation hearing. if more democrats are going to support judge gorsuch, it may be those in serving in states won by president trump. that may be popular with their constituents. other democrats are saying there will be a fili

day two of the neil gorsuch confirmation hearings kick off in a half hour. today is the day senators will ask him questions. brian williams picks up the coverage right now. brian? >> good morning, joe. good morning, mika. thank you so much. most of the attention focused on the large building with the dome behind you. we are waiting to catch a glimpse of the president who will motorcade from the white house to capitol hill. he is meeting with the republicans in the house about the health care bill. let us not forget that as we talk about the wiretapping debate, the russia debate, the gorsuch confirmation hearings, there is a vote scheduled thursday night of this week on the gop health care plan, which, of course faces an uncertain future shall we say in the u.s. senate. we will cover the departure of the president from the white house, his arrival on capitol hill. then, in about a half hour, we will see judge neil gorsuch take his place in front of the committee for the first full day of question and answer period in earnest of his confirmation hearings, whic

it was a tough night. >> but don't forget, neil gorsuch, kneneil gorsuch, neil gorsuch. >>> we'll be back next week, i promise you, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." and let me hope one final four team survives for me, kentucky. we'll be back. one final four team survives for me. we'll be back. ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> it was like any other normal trip. i had been to the philippines before. >> i told him how nice the people are. but then we were kidnapped. >> gerfa! >> one wrong movement and i could have a bullet go straight through my head. >> what do you want from us? >> i'm dling with religious fanatics.

it's a case neil gorsuch could hear if confirmed? >> in due process rights exthe tend even to undocumented persons in this country. >> i will apply the law. i will apply the law faithfully and fearlessly and without regard to persons. >> reporter: president trump praised his nominee throughout the hearing tweeting judge gorsuch is the kind of judge we need, someone with a brilliant legal mind. gorsuch seemed unflappable but showed a rare moment of frustration. >> there's a great deal about this process i regret. i regret putting my family through this. >> but to my question -- >> senator j the fact of the matter is it is what it is. >> reporter: cnn, washington. >>> our panel, jeffrey toobin, also price foley. jeff, these comments by gorsuch, they seem to be in line with what today seemed to be about. >> wouldn't be a rubber stamp as he said, i have a gavel, not a rubber stamp. it was a like a lot of his testimony, it was prudent and careful. it was not extreme. it was not extreme criticism. it wasn't praise for the president. and i

do democrats get to filibuster neil gorsuch? >> no. there will be enough democrats up for re-election to decide this is not the fight they want to have now. they may want a fight to the second pick. >> it's an easy to look bipartisan on this pick, isn't it? >> in almost any other period they would be consumed by gorsuch. when i talk to progressives they say russia, trump, the wiretapping allegation, chaos at the white house, they're focused on different issues. >> and health care. we'll be back in 45 seconds with "endgame" and a viewers' alternative version. yes, we do pay attention to what you have to say. >> coming up, "m >>> "meet the press" "endgame" is brought to you by boeing, always working to build something better. >>> back now with "endgame" and i want to continue quickly, we talked about on the gorsuch conversation whether democrats is it the right strategy to just be a party of no? george will, you've been used to covering that and the answer to that used to be no, but perhaps it's better for them politically to be the part

the biggest loser of today was neil gorsuch. nobody's talking about neil gorsuch. his supreme court nominee. that is a huge story that played second, third, fourth, fifth fiddle to the news of the day, the other thing that's on everyone's mind, health care. >> yeah. >> no one's talking about health care. donald trump needs to push that forward in order to pass the house and pass the senate, get on his desk so he can sign it and so far that is not being spoken about. much of the -- because we're talking about russia. >> where's the bandwidth going to come from for health care by later this week? >> i don't know where it's going to come from because i would assume that donald trump will wake up tomorrow and fire off a few more tweets, will have seen something on tv tonight or tomorrow morning that makes him upset. you know, rinse, wash and repeat. and the cycle never seems to end and there doesn't seem to be anybody who can talk him down from that ledge. you would think maybe his family members would be the last hope but so far they haven't been able to do it. >> to

neil gorsuch seen on both sides as favorable to gunowners. second amendment advocates in boulder by the fact that there are more than 100 judgeship openings across the country ranging from the u.s. court of appeals to u.s. district court. all of which appointed by the president. >> shannon: fox news has learned north korea conducted another successful rocket engine test over the weekend. this heightens concerns that the communist state is edging closer to building a missile capable of striking the u.s. officials tell fox it's the third such test this month. pentagon expects another nuclear weapons test following two successful blasts last year. human rights organization accusing a u.s.-led coalition in iraq not doing enough to protect civilians in the war against isis. one american general says isis may have been complicit in a deadly coalition air strike. benjamin hall has the latest. >> the battle for mosul is reaching a brutal climax. isis fighters are waiting to strike. >> classic urban warfare, difficult kind of warfare. it's sort of a h

ud >> pelley: judge neil gorsuch xas a witness in his own defense heday, as he was cross-examined on senators judging whether he will join the nation's highest court. here's chief legal correspondent ten crawford. se reporter: throughout the day, vmocrats pressed judge gorsuch on his views. >> can you do a yes or no? >> it's taking a lot of time to get what i would think would be a fairly simple answer. >> i just want a yes or no, that's all. >> reporter: and throughout the day, this was gorsuch's response: n i'm not going to say anything here that would give anybody any rea how i'd rule in any case like that. i think that's the beginning of the end of the independent judiciary. his n't think this is simple stuff at all, senator. i think this is hard stuff. >> reporter: gorsuch has served on the federal bench for more than a decade. as the senators grilled him on key issues like abortion, terrorism, and gun rights, gorsuch didn't tip his hand. at times, the harvard law rvaduate came across more relaxed than some of the senate's more senior democrats, like vermont's patrick leahy. >>

the nomination of neil gorsuch. the agenda is moving very brisk in terms of what his priorities were and where we're headed. >> -- consideration for carbon tax which was discussed at a meeting at the white house, we're hearing there's a pretty lively internal debate. gary comb might be more prone than that, is the president considering a carbon tax? >> i can there's a robust debate going on with respect to comprehensive tax reform and as we mentioned our goal right now is to get through thursday and what the president has talked about very publicly, we need to get obamacare repealed and replaced and move on to tax reform and some of the other trade reviews, i'm not going to comment on specific prongs of that but will tell you there's a lot of people who recognize we haven't had comprehensive tax reform since 1986. there's a lot of voices and opinions that get shared with him so i'm not going to get into a discussion commenting on piecemeal of this. when you look at the week ahead real quick, glen, in terms of this t

. >> they should be taking mary katharine's advice and talking about neil gorsuch. >> they rarely do. >> clarissa, as someone who has spent months in russia. i can't think, as somebody who likes to meddle in elections and vladimir putin must be enjoying this one way or the other. the american political system is in disarray. >> i think up to a certain point he was kind of enjoying it. he was enjoying the ambiguity of it, the possibility that he could have thrown the election in the most powerful and important consequential country in the world. that certainly spoke to his ego. what was noticeable today, while every single news channel pretty much in the worl. globally. sky news. bbc, al jazeera. one news channel that noticeably did not take today's hearing was russia today. i think you're starting to see the beginning of what we may call a conscious uncoupling of the kremlin and the trump administration. the kremlin sees the writing on the wall and understand that president trump will literally be forced at some point to start talking tough with russia. so we have seen recently the be