The Latest: 5,000 people aided lawyers group to rate Gorsuch

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on nomination hearings for Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch (all times local):

10:14 A.M.

A committee evaluating Judge Neil Gorsuch to serve on the Supreme Court contacted almost 5,000 people nationwide who might have knowledge of his qualifications before unanimously giving him a well-qualified rating.

The American Bar Association's Nancy Scott Degan says the committee evaluating Supreme Court nominees doesn't give a well-qualified rating lightly. She says it's based on integrity, professional competence and temperament.

The Senate Judiciary is holding its third and likely final hearing Thursday on President Donald Trump's nominee to serve on the Supreme Court.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein is also noting that President Barack Obama's nominee to the court, Judge Merrick Garland, received the ABA's well-qualified rating, but didn't get a hearing. Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah says he agrees Garland is a wonderful person and well qualified.

---10:06 A.M.

Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey says he'll vote against Donald Trump's choice of Judge Neil Gorsuch to serve on the Supreme Court.

Casey said Gorsuch possesses a "rigid and restrictive judicial philosophy" and writes opinions to satisfy his conservative beliefs rather than "grapple with the complex circumstances faced by ordinary Americans."

Democrats remain livid that Republicans last year killed former President Barack Obama's nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, without a hearing.

Democrats Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Ed Markey of Massachusetts have declared their opposition.

The Gorsuch nomination appears headed for a filibuster showdown that could lead Republicans controlling the Senate to change the chamber's rules to confirm Gorsuch.

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10:10 a.m.

Top Senate Democrat Charles Schumer is now officially on record as opposing President Donald Trump's choice for the Supreme Court.

The New York Democrat also said he would lead a filibuster against appeals court Judge Neil Gorsuch. He said Gorsuch "almost instinctively favors the powerful over the weak."

Schumer said doesn't think Gorsuch would serve as a check on Trump or be a mainstream justice. He blasted Gorsuch for refusing to answer "question after question after question" in hearings this week.

Schumer's position is no surprise; Democrats remain angry that Republicans controlling the Senate denied former president Barack Obama a hearing on his choice to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died more than a year ago.

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3:00 a.m.

Lawyers, advocacy groups and former colleagues get their say on President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee after Judge Neil Gorsuch emerged unscathed from two days of tough questioning at his confirmation hearing.

Assured of support from majority Republicans, Gorsuch received glowing GOP reviews but complaints from frustrated Democrats that he concealed his views from the American public. Gorsuch, a federal appeals court judge in Denver, refused repeated attempts to get him to talk about key legal and political issues of the day. But he did tell Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who worried that Gorsuch would vote to restrict abortion, that "no one is looking to return us to horse and buggy days."

On Thursday, the panel hears from the American Bar Association, which already gave him a unanimous "well qualified" rating.