Sen. Dick Durbin said he did not attend President Donald Trump's announcement of his Supreme Court nominee on Tuesday because he "would have been a prop."
"It really did sound a lot like a reality-TV show, as the president made his announcement and Justice Gorsuch and his wife came out of the wings and there was standing applause," Durbin said Wednesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
"I don't know enough about this man to tell you that I'm going to be applauding him all the way to the finish line. I want to study him carefully," the Illinois Democrat said of Gorsuch.
"This is a much more serious thing, and we ought to take it seriously, and I didn't want to stand there and be hypocritical about it," he added.
Democrats will insist on a hearing and a vote to confirm Gorsuch, Durbin continued, and "he should have a hearing, and he should meet the voting standard that Supreme Court nominees are held to, and that is 60 votes."
When asked if he was concerned about Gorsuch as a nominee, Durbin expressed a broader view about any potential court nominee.
"The courts are going to play an amazing role, I'm afraid, in the presidency of Donald Trump. We want to make sure they are independent men of integrity, willing to stand up for the Constitution even if it's unpopular with the president," Durbin said.
Gorsuch would be pivotal in upcoming Supreme Court decisions, Durbin added.
"He's moving from Triple-A ball to the big leagues here, and he's going to be the deciding vote on the future of the court for a long time, it appears."
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