White House presidential counsel Kellyanne Conway Saturday ripped Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer after he warned that President Donald Trump's attacks on a federal judge who blocked his immigration executive order "raises the bar even higher" for Neil Gorsuch to win confirmation to the Supreme Court.
Conway slammed the New York Democrat on Twitter:
Trump bashed U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle on Twitter early Saturday after he issued a nationwide ban on his week-old order barring travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States.
In a statement to The Washington Examiner, Schumer said that "the president's attack on Judge James Robart, a Bush appointee who passed with 99 votes, shows a disdain for an independent judiciary that doesn't always bend to his wishes and a continued lack of respect for the Constitution, making it more important that the Supreme Court serve as an independent check on the administration.
"With each action testing the Constitution, and each personal attack on a judge, President Trump raises the bar even higher for Judge Gorsuch's nomination to serve on the Supreme Court," the senator added. "His ability to be an independent check will be front and center throughout the confirmation process."
Trump nominated Gorsuch, 49, a U.S. appellate court judge in Denver, on Tuesday.
Democrats immediately slammed Trump's choice — and Schumer declared Wednesday that "we Democrats will insist on a rigorous but fair process.
"There will be 60 votes for confirmation," he said, adding that the requirement was "the right thing to do."
President Trump has called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to suspend the rules to allow Gorsuch to be confirmed on a simple-majority vote.