The Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing Wednesday was quickly mired in a philosophical fight over judicial philosophy, as Republicans attempted to push several circuit and district court nominees to decide whether they are “originalists.”

“Over the course of the last 20 months members have been trying to get people to state, I guess you’d call it a general judicial philosophy, and my colleagues are irritated because no one wants to express a judicial philosophy,” said ranking Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Grassley, before asking Third Circuit nominee Cindy K. Chung if she was an “originalist or if she believed in a living constitution.”