Senator Tim Kaine Announces He Will Vote Against Neil Gorsuch

Senator Tim Kaine, on Wednesday, became the latest Democratic Senator to announce that he will vote against the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch.

Kaine released a statement on Wednesday and noted abortion rights and contraception in his reason for voting against Gorsuch.

“After meeting with Judge Gorsuch and reviewing his testimony and past decisions, I’ve observed that he has repeatedly taken an activist approach to cases involving a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her health,” Kaine said.

“He has made the astounding argument that bosses have an individual right to prevent their company’s female employees from using their own health insurance to buy contraception.”

And Kaine continued his argument against Gorsuch saying he has taken “extraordinary steps to force reconsideration of rulings that preserve access to reproductive health.”

“Judge Gorsuch unquestionably has an impressive professional and education background, but a nominee to the Supreme Court must also demonstrate sound judicial philosophy,” Kaine continued.

“Judge Gorsuch’s selective activism in restricting women’s rights and his framing of women making their own health decisions as ‘the wrongdoing of others’ are jarring and do not demonstrate a philosophy that belongs on the Supreme Court,” he continued.

“I will oppose his nomination,” Kaine concluded.

Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have announced they will filibuster Neil Gorsuch and require 60 votes for his confirmation.

“He will have to earn 60 votes for confirmation. My vote will be no, and I urge my colleagues to do the same,” Schumer said.

“If this nominee cannot earn 60 votes, a bar met by each of President Obama’s nominees and George Bush’s last two nominees, the answer isn’t to change the rules. It’s to change the nominee,” Schumer said.