"There is a lot of talk these days about judicial independence, given President Trump’s criticisms of recent judicial rulings and — more problematically — judges themselves. Judicial independence is undeniably one of the pillars of the Constitution, but it is also sometimes distorted to impede another constitutional structural element: the Senate’s assessment of Supreme Court nominees. Too often, nominees — by both parties, it should be emphasized — refuse to comment on past Supreme Court cases during Senate questioning on grounds that such comments could compromise judicial independence once someone joins the court."
In an op-ed published by the Washington Post, Dean Vikram Amar outlines several recent cases he feels Judge Gorsuch should be required to weigh in on.
WaPo op-ed
Note: The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Illinois College of Law.