Senate Hearings Get Underway on Trump Supreme Court Pick

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate hearings are getting underway on Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court.

They come 13 months after Justice Antonin Scalia's death created a vacancy on the high court.

Gorsuch is a respected, highly credentialed and conservative member of the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. His nomination has been cheered by Republicans and praised by some left-leaning legal scholars.

Democrats head into the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings divided over how hard to fight him.

The first day of the hearings Monday will feature opening statements from senators and Gorsuch himself. Questioning will begin on Tuesday, and votes in committee and on the Senate floor are expected early next month.