In another move designed to force the Senate to bend to his influential will in a closely divided Senate, Sen. Joe Manchin, (D-WV) is now saying he will not support President Joe Biden’s judicial picks without any Republican support.
Manchin, who recently announced he would not seek reelection as a Democrat this fall in deep red West Virginia, spoke to Politico after voting against several judicial picks this week.
“Just one Republican. That’s all I’m asking for. Give me something bipartisan. This is my own little filibuster. If they can’t get one Republican, I vote for none. I’ve told [Democrats] that. I said, ‘I’m sick and tired of it, I can’t take it anymore,’” Manchin said Wednesday.
The Hill posted a link to their reporting on X, formerly Twitter, that said Manchin followed through on his statement by not supporting one of President Biden’s judicial nominees, and likely dooming the confirmation effort for Adeel Mangi, who would be the first Muslim American judge to sit on a federal appeals court.
Sen. Joe Manchin (https://t.co/waPScvSVml) said he would not vote for one of President Biden’s judicial nominees, becoming the second Democratic senator to do so and likely dooming the nomination. https://t.co/uieQXQfKCx
— The Hill (@thehill) March 22, 2024
The Hill reported that with two Democrats opposing the nomination, Mangi would need Republican support to be confirmed to the bench, but he has come under intense criticism from some Republicans.
Manchin’s unpredictability and conservative views on guns, climate change and federal spending have made him a serious thorn in the side of the Democrats in the Senate for years.
Manchin has been a favorite target of climate activists for his unapologetic support for his home state’s coal industry. In 2021, far-left environmental activists followed Manchin from his D.C. houseboat to his car and attempted to prevent him from leaving a parking garage over Manchin’s opposition to a key Democratic social spending bill. The aggressive protest move was seen as overly-hostile by mainstream Democrats and generated considered public sympathy for Manchin as the bill negotiations wore on.
During a radio interview in West Virginia in August 2023, Manchin said that he had been thinking about leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent “for quite some time,” which immediately led to speculation he was considering a third-party run for the White House.
