Sens. Klobuchar and Franken wary on SCOTUS nominee

WASHINGTON -- Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken were non-committal on Wednesday over President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.

The two Democrats are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will be where Gorsuch, a Colorado federal judge, will start in his confirmation process. Gorsuch began meeting with senators Wednesday, though has yet to meet with Franken or Klobuchar, staffs said.

"I have concerns about his views and record on issues including those involving separation of powers, campaign finance and consumer protection," Klobuchar said, in a statement. "This nominee deserves serious scrutiny. And to be clear, there is a 60-vote threshold for this nominee to be confirmed, it's not 51 like the other nominees before us now."

Franken's statement was similar.

"I will be closely examining Neil Gorsuch's background, but I have serious concerns about his judicial philosophy -- especially on issues like access to justice, corporate accountability, workers' rights and women's health," he said. "I was hopeful that the president would have selected someone like Merrick Garland."

Garland was former President Obama's pick to replace Antonin Scalia, who died a year ago. Garland never got a hearing in front of the Judiciary Committee because Republicans believed the next president should pick the Supreme Court nominee.