U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, said he will not support Neil Gorsuch as President Trump’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court and stands behind Democrats’ efforts to require at least 60 votes for a confirmation.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call Sunday evening, the senior senator from Montana said the decision, while difficult, ultimately hinged on Gorsuch’s record of judicial opinions furnishing corporations with the same Constitutional rights as individuals, his views on women’s right to choose and concerns about privacy.
“With Judge Gorsuch on the bench, I am deeply concerned that dark money will continue to drown out the voices and votes of citizens, the Court will stand between women and their doctors, and the government will reach into the private lives of law-abiding Americans,” Tester said. “These are not Montana values.”
While Tester said Gorsuch’s opinions emboldening the role of so-called “dark money” in politics was the “tipping point,” he spent considerable time highlighting Gorsuch’s stances on privacy and women’s rights to abortion as sticking points that eroded his support for the nominee, who Tester said could have addressed those concerns head on during his confirmation hearing.
Instead, Tester said Gorsuch was evasive, and that a groundswell of feedback from his constituents and an up-close review of the judge’s record led him to the decision, which he described as “one of my most important responsibilities” as a U.S. senator.
“Lawyers with degrees from Ivy League schools often get good at dodging questions. But a Judge cannot hide from his opinions,” Tester said. “Over the years, Judge Gorsuch gave corporations the same Constitutional rights as a nurse from Plentywood, a teacher from Kalispell, or a farmer from Fort Benton.”
Tester, one of several vulnerable red-state Democrats facing re-election in 2018, had come under increasing pressure in recent weeks to make a decision as conservative groups mounted an aggressive front to force his hand.
In a recent spate of television ads, the Judicial Crisis Network extolled the Supreme Court nominee and slammed Tester for straddling the fence on Gorsuch, who is nominated to fill the seat vacated by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death.
Tester said neither the pressure nor the politics played a role in his decision.
“I think this decision is above politics,” Tester said. “It is one of the most important decisions that I will make, and I based my decision on the facts.”
Senate Democrats have indicated their intent to filibuster Gorsuch’s confirmation, which could happen this week. A final confirmation requires a simple majority vote before the full Senate, while 60 votes are required to invoke cloture and end a filibuster.
With Republicans controlling just 52 seats, and with three Democrats having pledged their support to confirm Gorsuch, Senate Republicans could also employ the so-called “nuclear option” and change the cloture rule to require a simple majority vote to shut down a filibuster, a tactic used in 2013 by the then Democratic-controlled Senate to change the cloture requirement for cabinet confirmations and federal judges serving on a lower court to a simple majority.
Tester said confirming a Supreme Court nominee is too important of a decision to require anything less than 60 votes.