The Supreme Court seat left vacant last February may soon find a home with President Donald Trump’s nominee, Neil Gorsuch.

Gorsuch met in front of the United States Senate’s Judiciary Committee last Monday to begin the process of being confirmed by Congress as the next Supreme Court justice. If confirmed, Gorsuch will be filling the seat left vacant by former Justice Antonin Scalia following his death early last year.

During initial talks with the committee March 20, Gorsuch said he has tried to serve as a “neutral and independent judge” and has previously voted in favor of disabled students, veterans and prisoners, according to The Washington Post.

“But my decisions have never reflected a judgment about the people before me, only my best judgment about the law and facts at issue in each particular case,” Gorsuch said during his opening statements to the Senate.

Left and right-wing senators alike pressed Gorsuch for his stance on issues such as abortion, gun rights, privacy and the recount of the 2000 presidential election.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse pressed Gorsuch for his opinion on money in politics, and chided him when Gorsuch was unable to give an exact answer, according to Fox News.

“If you don’t know that, you’re going to have a very hard time figuring out how to make the right call,” Whitehouse said.

Gorsuch attempted to quell any uncertainty about his nomination by reaffirming his objectiveness in the courtroom.

“I have no difficulty ruling against or for any party, other than based on what the law and the facts of a particular case require,” Gorsuch said. “There’s no such thing as a Republican judge or a Democratic judge, we just have judges in this country.”

Although confirmation hearings are moving forward for the time being, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned Republicans that the Democrats will continue to operate as a roadblock for Gorsuch’s confirmation, according to The Washington Post.

Schumer said the party’s action, or lack thereof, comes as a result of the Republican Party’s refusal to confirm former President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland during the final months of his presidency.

He also said moving forward with the confirmation of a Supreme Court judge nomination seems “unseemly” due to the recent launch of the FBI’s investigation into the Trump administration’s ties to Russia.

“You can bet that if the shoe was on the other foot — and a Democratic president was under investigation by the FBI — that Republicans would be howling at the moon about filling a Supreme Court seat in such circumstances,” Schumer said during Tuesday’s hearing.

Confirmation hearings will continue in Congress for the foreseeable future. However, according to The Washington Post, the hearings may conclude by as early as May.

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