Keeping in line with some of her party’s colleagues, Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Thursday that she will vote against President Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, conservative Colorado Judge Neil Gorsuch.
Baldwin issued a statement Tuesday, the day of Gorsuch’s appointment, saying she would “fully review” Gorsuch’s record and was “deeply troubled” about his rulings on disabled students, against workers and against women’s reproductive healthcare.
She also stated that Trump’s appointment demonstrated that he was not trying to unify the country because Gorsuch is not a mainstream candidate and doesn’t have bipartisan support.
Republicans control the U.S. Senate by a margin of 52-48, meaning they need support from eight Democrats to reach 60 votes that will stop the filibuster and confirm Gorsuch as the new justice.
President Trump told Republicans to “go nuclear” and change Senate rules so that filibusters aren’t allowed in Supreme Court nominations.
Republicans are looking to influence Democrats from red states who are up for re-election in 2018. Baldwin fits that category.
But on Thursday, Baldwin announced that she will not be one of the eight Democrats needed to approve Gorsuch and will vote against him.
Baldwin’s decision sparked backlash from Republicans, including getting involved in a Twitter fight with Gov. Scott Walker.
“Not only is Senator Tammy Baldwin opposing a qualified nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court—she’s breaking her word to the people of Wisconsin after promising to ‘fully review Judge Gorsuch’s record’ before making a decision,” the Republican Party of Wisconsin said in a statement. “This is just further proof that after two decades of talk in Washington, Senator Baldwin has become an elite liberal insider who is set on playing political games and protecting the Washington status quo at all costs.”
