Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the former Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will vote against advancing Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination on Monday.
“I have often said that the Senate, at its best, can be the conscience of the nation,” Leahy said Monday. “I must now vote my conscience, both today and later this week. My conscience will not allow me to ratify the majority leader’s actions – not last year and not this year. I will not support advancing this nomination.”
Leahy made the remarks at Monday’s Judiciary Committee hearing ahead of the panel’s vote on Gorsuch. Leahy blasted Gorsuch as “excruciatingly evasive” and suggested that the nominee “stonewalled” answering on substantive issues during hearings on his nomination.
The full Senate is expected to consider Gorsuch’s nomination later this week. Leahy had not previously said publicly how he would vote on Gorsuch, and his decision may lead other Democrats to follow his opposition.
