Nelson backs filibuster against Trump’s Supreme Court choice

Florida U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said Monday he will vote against confirmation of President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch — and would also back a Democratic filibuster to keep a vote from happening.

Gorsuch was nominated by Trump in January to fill the vacancy left by Associate Justice Antonin Scalia’s death in 2016.

“Deciding whether to confirm a president’s nominee for the highest court in the land is a responsibility I take very seriously,” Nelson said in a statement.

“Over the past few weeks, I have met with Judge Gorsuch, listened to the Judiciary Committee’s hearings and reviewed his record with an open mind,” he said. “I have real concerns with his thinking on protecting the right to vote and allowing unlimited money in political campaigns.”

In addition, Nelson said, “the judge has consistently sided with corporations over employees, as in the case of a freezing truck driver who, contrary to common sense, Judge Gorsuch would have allowed to be fired for abandoning his disabled rig during extreme weather conditions.”

Senate Democrats have come under under increasing pressure from the party base to filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination, partly in response to the Republican-led Senate’s refusal to hold hearings on former President Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, in 2016.

Any filibusters would require 60 out of 100 votes to overcome, unless Senate Republicans use the “nuclear option” and end filibusters for Supreme Court nominations. Republicans have a 52 to 48 margin in the Senate, and it was unclear how many Democrats — even those opposed to Gorsuch — would join in on a filibuster.

A committee vote on Gorsuch was postponed Monday and is now scheduled for April 3.