WASHINGTON Neil Gorsuch mastered the Supreme Court confirmation dance like only someone whos been groomed for this very moment can.

And without once saying a bad word about President Donald Trump , he still managed on Tuesday to emerge largely unscathed from his first full day of questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee an exhausting 10 hours of praise, hard questions and inquiries that revealed little about how hed approach or rule on the issues that preoccupy Americans.

When Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) wanted to know his views about Roe v. Wade , Gorsuch simply said the ruling was seminal and has been reaffirmed many times. Fielding an assist from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), he said he would have walked out that door if Trump had demanded, as a precondition for getting the job, that he would overrule the abortion rights decision.

When Vermonts Patrick Leahy (D) asked the judge if the Senate had been fair to Judge Merrick Garland, who couldve sat in Gorsuchs same chair if Republicans hadnt refused to give him a hearing in the Senate, the nominee dodged and said he cant get involved in politics.

And when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) brought up money in politics and how anonymously funded interest groups spent millions to oppose Garland and several millions more to promote Gorsuch, the judge seemed rattled by the implication that hes in someone elses back pocket.

Youd have to ask them, he told Whitehouse, who had asked him what made him so special that hes worth spending lavish sums on. The senator wasnt having it: I cant because I dont know who they are. Its just a front group.