U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch faced questioning in the Senate Judiciary Committee this Tuesday about whether he supports political contributions by unidentified donors.
The questions about so-called dark money came from U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.
Whitehouse says $10 million in dark money is being spent to support Gorsuch’s nomination, after $7 million in dark money was spent to stymie the nomination of President Obama’s last Supreme Court pick, Merrick Garland.
“For the life of me, I’m trying to figure out what they see in you that makes that makes that $17 million delta their spending,” said Whitehouse. “Do you have any answer to that?”
“You’d have to ask them,” answered Gorsuch.
“I can’t, because I don’t know who they are. It’s just a front group,” said Whitehouse.
Gorsuch expressed support for identifying campaign contributors in some cases. But he says keeping some political donors anonymous is also justified in some situations.
