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ByEricaWerner and Mark Sherman TheAssociatedPress WASHINGTON Supreme Court nominee Neil Gor- such said Tuesday that "no man is above the law" when pressed on whether Presi- dent Donald Trump could reinstitute torture as a U.S. interrogation method. The exchange with Re- publican Sen. Lindsey Gra- ham of South Carolina came on Day Two of Gor- such's confirmation hearing to fill the 13-month vacancy on the Supreme Court. Graham suggested Trump might be watching the hearing, and asked Gor- such what would happen if the president tried to rein- state waterboarding, the now-banned torture tech- nique that Trump embraced on the campaign trail. Gra- ham suggested that Trump "might get impeached" if he tried to do so. "Senator, the impeach- ment power belongs to this body," Gorsuch said, but when Graham followed up on whether Trump could be subject to prosecution, Gor- such said: "No man is above the law, no man." It was one of several charged exchanges Tues- day as Gorsuch mostly batted away Democrats' efforts to get him to re- veal his views on abor- tion, guns and other con- troversial issues, insisting he keeps "an open mind for the entire process" when he issues rulings. He an- swered friendly questions from majority Republicans in the same way as they tried to help him high- light his neutrality in face of Democratic attempts to link him to Trump, who nominated him. Graham asked Gorsuch whether Trump had asked him to overturn Roe v. Wade, the case establish- ing a right to abortion, and what he would have done had Trump asked him to do so. "Senator, I would have walked out the door," Gor- such replied. "That's not what judges do." "My personal views, I tell you, Mr. Chairman, are over here. I leave those at home," Gorsuch said in re- sponse to a question from Judiciary Committee Chair- man Chuck Grassley of Iowa. And he gave versions of that same response nu- merous times to other sen- ators. As a long day of ques- tioning wore on, senators and Gorsuch engaged in a routine well-established in recent confirmation hear- ings, as the nominee re- sists all requests to say how he feels about Supreme Court decisions, even as he is asked about them again and again. Questioned by Demo- cratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California about the Su- preme Court's 2008 ruling affirming the right of people to keep guns in their homes for self-defense — District of Columbia v. Heller — Gorsuch said, "Whatever is in Heller is the law and I follow the law. ... It's not a matter of agreeing or dis- agreeing." On another contentious case, Gorsuch, who has spent 10 years on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap- peals in Denver, defended his vote in favor of the abil- ity of the Hobby Lobby craft stores to assert religious ob- jections to paying for con- traception for women cov- ered under their health plans. He acknowledged it was a tough decision, which the Supreme Court ended up affirming, but he said the outcome was required under a federal religious freedom law. Democrats repeatedly brought up yet another case, in which Gorsuch ruled against a truck driver who was fired after he abandoned his truck when it broke down in freezing cold weather. There again, Gorsuch said his decision was guided by the law as written, but added that it was "one of those you take home at night." The hearing went for- ward with surprisingly lit- tle attention for a lifetime Supreme Court appoint- ment, with plenty of empty seats in the hearing room and no protests. Republicans are unan- imously supporting Gor- such, but Democrats made clear that they were in no mood to "rubber stamp a nominee selected by ex- treme interest groups and nominated by a president who lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes," as Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont put it. Still, Democrats are divided over how hard to fight the nomination, weighing op- position from liberal voters against Garland's strong credentials. CONGRESS 'No man is above the law,' Trump's Supreme Court pick says PABLOMARTINEZMONSIVAIS—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Supreme Court Justice nominee Neil Gorsuch gestures as he testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. CALIC#778199 GERBER 385-1153 HINKLE ROOFING & CONSTRUCTION, INC 741Main Street,Suite#2 Red Bluff, CA 96080 1-800-287-2187 (530) 527-2187 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK www.redbluffcoldwellbanker.com See All Tehama County Listings at If you are Considering Selling Your Home, Now is the Time! PropertyisSelling and Listings are in Short Supply! CallTehamaCountiesLargest Real Estate Office and let our Knowledgeable and Professional Realtors assist you Today! 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