HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana said Sunday he will oppose Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court, saying he found Gorsuch’s past decisions on privacy and corporations troubling.
Tester told reporters that Gorsuch did not directly answer questions when the two met or during Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing, so Tester based his decision on the judge’s past cases and after hearing from his constituents.
“I am concerned that if Judge Gorsuch is confirmed, our future will be shaped by dark money and expanding government that violates our fundamental freedoms,” Tester said.
Tester is up for re-election in 2018, though he does not yet have a challenger. Three other Democratic senators who face elections next year have announced they are backing Gorsuch: Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, who made his announcement earlier Sunday.
Tester has been the target of ad campaigns by conservative groups seeking Gorsuch’s confirmation. His fellow Montana senator, Steve Daines, added pressure by holding a news conference in February with state lawmakers in Helena to promote Gorsuch’s candidacy.
Tester said the 2018 election did not influence his decision, and that he was bothered by the amount of special interest money that poured into Montana seeking to do so.
“I think this decision is above politics,” he said. “It’s one of the most important decisions I will be making and quite frankly, I base my decision based on the facts, not on any sort of political sway in either direction.”
One of those groups, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, released a statement that said Tester has “shown his true colors with this decision.”
“It’s clear that Jon Tester didn’t learn anything from the November election and doesn’t understand Montana values,” spokeswoman Katie Martin said in the statement. “He would rather stand up for liberal special interests in Washington than side with Montana families.”
Gorsuch, 49, has spent more than a decade on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
Tester said he and the constituents he spoke with were concerned over Gorsuch’s rulings equating corporations with people, citing the Hobby Lobby decision as an example. The 2013 ruling backed a company that did not want to provide health-care coverage for contraceptives to its employees.
Tester said he was also concerned that if Gorsuch is confirmed, money would continue to play an oversized role in elections, women’s health-care choices would be limited and that Fourth Amendment privacy rights would be threatened.
Tester’s decision makes it more likely that Gorsuch won’t meet the 60-vote threshold for Senate confirmation, which would mean Republicans would have to change Senate rules so that Gorsuch would only need 51 votes.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said Gorsuch will be confirmed this week.
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