authority on how to proceed. Cornyn also said that the voice of the people should play a role, and that the "only way to empower the American people" was having the vacancy be filled by the winner of the upcoming presidential election, so no hearings on Garland should be held. The Senate did not vote on Garland's nomination, which expired after the November election of President Donald Trump. Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to the seat, and Gorsuch was confirmed. In September 2020, Cornyn supported a vote on Trump's nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy caused by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In March 2016, he took the position that the Senate should not consider Obama's Supreme Court nominee. On June 8, 2017, during a committee hearing whose announced topic was the Russian interference in the 2016 election and Comey's dismissal as FBI director, Cornyn opted instead to spend his time questioning James Comey on Hillary Clinton's email controversy. In September 2018, during the Supreme Court nomination hearings for Brett Kavanaugh, Cornyn accused the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee of devolving into mob rule by breaking the rules of decorum when asking for postponement or adjournment of the hearing to obtain or review documents from Kavanaugh's time working for the George W. Bush administration. Cornyn said that it was hard to believe the Democrats' claim that they could not properly assess Kavanaugh without the documents because it seemed that their minds were already made up. Committee assignments United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Committee on Finance Subcommittee on Health Care Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security (ranking member) Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security Caucus on International Narcotics Control Political positions Political scientists John M. Sides and Daniel J. Hopkins characterized Cornyn as "very conservative" in 2015. In 2013, National Journal ranked Cornyn the 14th-most conservative Senator. The Dallas Morning News considered him a reliable ally of President George W. Bush on most issues. Abortion Cornyn opposes abortion. In 2007, Cornyn voted against expanding federal funding for stem cell research that utilized human embryonic stem cells. Cornyn instead pushed for "several alternatives that would use adult and cord blood stem cells for research [as those] methods have proven to be more productive, and they