'Far from idle speculation': Dem. senator says 'looming' impeachment is reason to filibuster Gorsuch

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) argued on Monday that Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick, should not be nominated in the midst of a "looming" constitutional crisis.

The Connecticut Democrat explained at a Senate confirmation hearing on Monday that he would be voting against Gorsuch after "deliberating carefully and deeply."

"I am still angry about the treatment of [President Barack Obama's nominee] Merrick Garland," Blumenthal noted. "My Republican colleagues have said if the shoe were on the other foot, we would have done the same. It would have been as wrong if we had [refused to give Garland a hearing] as it was when they did."

"But my vote is not about Merrick Garland," he continued. "It is about Neil Gorsuch and it is about the constitutional crisis that may well be looming as a potential threat to our democracy."

Blumenthal pointed out that FBI Director James Comey has testified that the agency is investigating ties between President Trump's associates and the Russian interference in the U.S. elections.

"The independence of our judicial branch has never been more threatened or more important," the senator declared, citing impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon. "The possibility of a Supreme Court needing to enforce a subpoena against the president of the United States is far from idle speculation. It has happened before in United States vs. Nixon."

Watch the video below from C-SPAN, broadcast April 3, 2017.