Judge Neil Gorsuch did so well on the first day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearings Democrats who plan to portray him as "a wild-eyed, right-wing extremist really have their work cut out for them," according to former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark.
"In his opening statement, Gorsuch came across as such a wise, reasonable, nonpartisan and intelligent fellow . . . that he seemed as rare a species in Washington as the giant pandas at the National Zoo," Huckabee, a two-time GOP presidential candidate, wrote Tuesday on his Facebook page.
"Democrats will also be stymied by Gorsuch's speech, in which he outlined his constitutional duties as judging cases based on the law and the Constitution, not acting as some kind of 'super-legislator' who rewrites laws from the bench and makes rulings based on his personal opinions."
Huckabee claims this view "upsets Democrats because unelected activist judges are the last government power base they have left."
"Gorsuch noted that in courts out West where he comes from, the judges listen to each other's opinions, and that he has ruled with the majority 99 percent of the time. That will also make it hard for Democrats to paint him as 'out-of-the-mainstream,' not that they won't try," Huckabee wrote.
"Several already did, but their fruitless attempts to get him to promise that he'll rule on their pet issues the way they want won't undermine his credibility the way they hoped. It'll just make them look mentally incapable of comprehending the very simple definition of what a judge does that Gorsuch just patiently laid out for them."
Gorsuch, who was nominated by President Donald Trump to take the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia, was in his second day of confirmation hearings Tuesday.