>> ahead of the day number one of the hearing for neil gorsuch to be the ninth member of the u.s. supreme court. they never one will be opening statements from senators and from neil gorsuch himself. he will be introduced by cory gardner, michael bennett, the two senators from colorado and also by former acting solicitor general neal katyal. some folks have been waiting in line to get in and you can see the room filling up fairly full now. something like before dawn this morning. we caught up wit with a few to d out where they stand on judge gorsuch. >> my name is william and i'm here this money to support neil gorsuch and his nomination. mole cell what to say it and see what the committee has to say, what questions they're going to ask him. quite frankly i don't see how we doesn't get, not nominate but confirmed by the senate. >> who are you with? >> i'm sorry? >> are you with a group? what do you do for a living? >> i'm sorry, i'm an internet just asked for the morning off

to come over here. >> where do you entered? >> i'm interning with the young leaders program at the heritage foundation. >> and tell us what you like about judge neil gorsuch. what if you learned about him that you think you should be confirmed? >> i really like that judge neil gorsuch is a constitutional conservative. one of my favorite quotes find that came up recently asked a judge if the like all your decisions are almost certainly a bad judge. basically just speaking to the fact that you can have the law your weight and you can't just put your own feelings, your own emotions and what you think is the correct interpretation of the law. the correct interpretation of the law is what it is at that stands apart from your own views. >> you said you're an intern at heritage. where did you go to school? >> the university of texas at dallas. >> how have you become a conservative? why are you a conservative? >> that's a good question. i was raised in a conservative

household with conservative irish catholic parents. my father always was not a political idol to me but he served in the navy under ronald reagan, and coming up in that household with an excellent -- individual responsibilities and also the importance of the rule of law and society is really informative to me. >> thank you for your time. >> you're welcome. >> on thpolicy director at the feminist majority. >> why are you here? >> dorset is a threat to women's rights. he will be on the court for four decades, but his background, his record suggests that he is opposed to abortion rights as disdain for when it's constitutional rights and equality. >> what is feminist majority? >> it's a national organization that were dedicated to women's equality and economic areas, reproductive rights and all spheres of politics, government.

>> you are here to oppose the nomination. what is your group doing behind the scenes on social media, et cetera, to get the senators to oppose him, the senators that you would like to oppose him? >> last week will launch a new campaign called millions for roe. you can start or join a state-based team to engage in civic engagement about this issue but also about other issues that are a threat to abortion rights. so gorsuch is our first action but there will be more we will be out here in d.c. but also in the states fighting all anti-choice nominees. >> what do you plan to do when you get into the hearing room today? will you sit and listen or do you plan to protest? >> i think it's important to sit and listen and see what he has to say and make sure that the senators ask certain questions. we really need to expose his

record as i don't think that protesting inside is as valuable, because really need to hear what he has to say and we need to be able to get them on the record on what his ideas are in terms of our ritualism. original as it is fighting because of course women were not in the constitution or pot of when the constitution is being written. >> thank you for your time. >> some of those waiting outside on capitol hill for today's hearing, the first at the confirmation hearings for judge neil gorsuch, supporter and an opponent and lig not sure if that made it in yet buere will be movi people in and out throughout the day. he redid expected to until sometime after 3 o'clock. there is no senate session today, no actual legislative sessions of the judiciary committee can focus on the task at hand for today. on supporting and opposing the nominee the "washington post" reported yesterday that some $3.3 million had been spent on

ads for the nominee. most of that in favor of judge gorsuch with some $181,000 opposing the nominee since president trump's announced his nomination on january 17. you are watching live coverage. the hearing itself getting underway we expect in about 15 minutes. [inaudible conversations]

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hatch, about ten minutes away from the start of the actual hearing, judge gorsuch nominated to the u.s. supreme court and other members filing in. we saw senator john kennedy from louisiana as well. wanted to remind you that our coverage here on c-span2 throughout the day but we also covering the house intelligence committee today and their hearing on russian interference with the u.s. presidential election. that hearing underway and it's over on c-span2 and throughout the day on c-span3. c-span3. from editing director, fbi director james comey is testifying and has testified that he confirmed the fbi's counterintelligence division is investigating the nature between the trump campaign and russia. that hearing continues live over on c-span and c-span3, and you can also stream live at c-span.org and listen live just like this hearing on the free c-span radio app.

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[inaudible conversations] >> it should be just a few minutes away before neil gorsuch and his family arrived in the room and the hart senate office building as sinners arrive preparing for what could be a four or five our first day, the first four days in the hart senate office building. first of the opening statements from both judge gorsuch, the senators on the committee and the two senators who introduced judge gorsuch, michael bennet and cory gardner from colorado and, of course, the former acting solicitor general neal katyal. michael blumenthal and mike lee

on your screen. just a reminder our coverage live here on c-span2 today will reenter all of today's hearing tonight on c-span2 beginning at 8:30 eastern [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

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