Senate to fast track Trump's Supreme Court pick Neil Gorsuch

Early on Monday the Senate Judiciary Committee's Chairman Chuck Grassley said he would schedule the confirmation vote for next Monday, 27 March, but that he expected it to be pushed back and he aims for Gorsuch's confirmation before a two-week recess, starting 7 April.

In questioning over four days this week, the committee's Ranking Member Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Democrats will attempt to discover whether Gorsuch "is a reasonable, mainstream conservative," she said. Democrats intend to push him and probe his views on abortion, campaign finance, voting rights laws and gun control.

Gorsuch will begin being questioned on Tuesday. Currently there are eight Supreme Court justices following the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia over a year ago left a vacant conservative seat on the Supreme Court bench.

President Barack Obama attempted to appoint his nominee Judge Merrick Garland to the seat last year, but he was blocked by Republicans. Sen. Feinstein said during Monday's hearing that she is "deeply disappointed disappointed it's under these circumstances that we begin these hearings."

Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) introduced Gorsuch who sits in Denver's 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Yet Democrats are divided about Gorsuch's nomination and whether to fight it. Showing a penchant for impartiality, Gorsuch pushed back against President Trump's statements questioning the impartiality of the judiciary.

While President Trump was name-calling against a judge while fighting to uphold his travel ban on people from seven Muslim nations in February, Gorsuch described the president's comments as "disheartening" and "demoralising." When news of these comments made in a private conversation leaked, a spokesperson for Gorsuch confirmed their accuracy with NBC News.

In the past, however, Gorsuch has expressed views and ruled on cases supporting religious business owners to discriminate against employees who use contraception and big business over individual. His confirmation hearings are set to continue Tuesday 21 March.