WASHINGTON — Judge Neil Gorsuch on Tuesday refuted an allegation that he told a class of former law students that prospective employees should be asked about their pregnancy plans — telling the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that the characterization was dead wrong.
His response came on the second day of hearings for Gorsuch’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court and it follows a letter sent to the committee by a former student at the University of Colorado Law School.
That , written by Jennifer Sisk, a one-time aide to former U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., claimed Gorsuch asked the class to raise their hands if they knew of female employees who took advantage of maternity leave and later said that businesses were in their right to ask about family planning.
“Judge Gorsuch told the class that not only could a future employer ask female interviewees about their pregnancy and family plans, companies must ask females about their family and pregnancy plans to protect the company,” wrote Sisk in a two-page note dated Friday.
As reported by NPR, another student and on Tuesday it was the focus of an exchange between U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, and Gorsuch, a Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals who has moonlighted as a law school instructor at CU since 2008.
“That student didn’t just make this issue up after you were nominated,” Durbin said. “Last night, the University of Colorado Law School confirmed that she had voiced her concerns with administrators shortly after your April 19 (2016) class and also confirmed that the administrators told her they would raise this matter with you — though they never actually did so.”
In response, Gorsuch said he would be “delighted” to address the matter and noted the first time he’d heard of the complaint was on the eve of his Supreme Court hearings.
He said he asks for a show of hands in class to see how many students have been asked inappropriate or illegal questions by potential employers — such as their pregnancy plans.
“I am shocked every year … how many young women raise their hands. Itap disturbing to me,” said Gorsuch, adding that it upsets him that female attorneys still face much of the discrimination that confronted his mother, a , and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. “I’m shocked it still happens every year.
James Anaya, the dean of the University of Colorado Law School, confirmed in a statement that a complaint was made about the class in spring 2016, but the school never addressed it.
“We apologize to the student who expressed the concern and to Judge Gorsuch for not bringing this matter to his attention last summer,” Anaya said.
