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Hatch is leading the hearing in lieu of Grassley. He begins by saying Dem criticism is unfounded, b/c Grassley is following the blue slip practice of 17 of past 19 committee chairs — that both blue slips not needed for appeals court judges if there was White House consultation

(Dems have countered that Grassley more strictly enforced the blue slip rule to block Obama's nominees, and they've disputed the extent of White House consultation with Dem home state senators)

Feinstein is describing opposition to Porter from the left, saying he holds "troubling" views about limits on congressional power and noting his writings against Roe v. Wade and the Affordable Care Act

In the room for today's confirmation hearing for 3rd Circuit nominee David Porter: 3rd Circuit Chief Judge D. Brooks Smith and Paul McNulty, former DAG under W. Bush and president of Grove City College

Feinstein asks about Porter's arguments against the Obama admin's args in favor of the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. Porter said he stands by his opinion re: Commerce Clause, but would apply SCOTUS opinion if confirmed

Porter denies any real involvement with the Pennsylvania Judicial Network (PA version of Judicial Crisis Network). Says he participated in one brief call early on, that was it, and he didn't authorize having his name on a letter that was posted on the website

Kennedy asks Porter for his views on racial discrimination; Porter said he doesn't see that as a contested area of policy, says he opposes all forms of segregation (seems to be a nod to controversy over nominees not directly answering if Brown v. Board was correctly decided)

Kennedy asks: If a man was walking down the street in a high-crime neighborhood carrying a heavy bag and weaving a heavy coat, could police stop and question him? Porter says that based on that hypo, he didn't think so

Porter repped PA state and local candidates in arguing against the counting of certain absentee ballots, citing concerns about fraud prevention. Klobuchar asks if he thinks there's evidence of widespread voter fraud. Porter says he's not aware of widespread instances

Hirono asks Porter if he believes Title IX protections against sex discrim. incl. sexual harassment and discrim for failure to conform to gender stereotypes. Porter says not sure if that's being litigated, but if it hasn't, it probably will be soon, so he shouldn't comment

Porter goes on to say Title IX obviously protects against gender discrimination and is an "important law"

Porter wrote previously that Roe v. Wade had a "shaky theoretical foundation." Blumenthal asks if he still believes that. Porter replies by saying Roe is binding precedent and he would fairly and faithfully apply it regardless of what he thought about it personally

Porter becomes the latest nominee to demur when asked if Brown v. Board was correctly decided. Called it a "great" decision that removed the "terrible stain" of segregation, but said not appropriate for nominees to opine on cases

Taking a temporary recess now because there's a vote, stay tuned

And we're back, and turns out that was the end of Porter's testimony. We're now onto the five district court nominees: - Holly Brady, ND-IN - Andrew Brasher, MD-AL - JP Hanlon, SD-IN - David Morales, SD-TX - Lance Walker, ME

Sen. Lee is presiding over the hearing, and he is the only senator in the room as of now

One thing to note: three of the district court nominees come from states with one Dem senator and one Repub senator, and the Dems in those states (Donnelly in Indiana and Jones in Alabama) did return blue slips; also Sen. King from Maine, an Independent, returned a blue slip

Blumenthal is back. It's now him and Lee.

Blumenthal asked Brasher if he agreed or disagreed with positions in cases he handled in the Alabama AG's office, incl. defending same-sex marriage ban, arguing 14-yr-old could be sentenced to life w/out parole, arguing schools can check new student citizenship status

Brasher said it wouldn't be appropriate for him to say whether he personally agreed or disagreed with positions he argued on behalf of his client, the state of Alabama

Blumenthal asks Brasher if Roe and Brown were correctly decided. Brasher says it wouldn't be appropriate to opine on that, but says he would apply all precedent (also noted that while at Harvard Law he helped Charles Ogletree with a book on Brown)