Heinrich Statement On President Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) issued the following statement on President Trump nominating Neil Gorsuch, a federal appeals judge, to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court:

“After ignoring Judge Garland’s nomination for purely partisan reasons, Senate Republicans are already talking about changing the Senate rules to confirm Trump's nominee if Democrats don’t simply defer.

“Given the current climate in Washington, any nominee to the nation’s highest court must have an unshaken commitment to the rule of law, separation of powers, and the rights enshrined in the Constitution. This is a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land, and Judge Gorsuch must be subjected to the highest level of scrutiny.

"New Mexicans have made it clear to me that now more than ever they want an independent judiciary committed to defending the Constitution and the rule of law. I agree and any nomination to the highest court in the land should require more than a simple majority vote to ensure as much."