WASHINGTON — Judge Neil M. Gorsuch presented himself on Monday as a creature of consensus during a sharply partisan Supreme Court confirmation hearing, clouded throughout by the bitter nomination fight that preceded it over the past year.
Democrats, seething from the hearing’s opening moments, made clear that they would not let the public forget about Judge Merrick B. Garland, President Barack Obama’s nominee last year, whom Republicans refused to even consider at a hearing, saying the seat should be filled by the winner of the presidential election.
But when it was his turn, Judge Gorsuch reached often for comity during a well-practiced 16-minute speech, insisting that he favored no party above the law and appearing to brace for attacks from critics who have said his rulings tilt toward corporate interests.
