Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) urgently called on her colleagues in the Senate to fill the Supreme Court's open seat back in March 2016, arguing the American people deserve a nine-member court and that the country cannot function properly without one.
"A majority of Wisconsinites also said they believe that leaving this seat on our highest court vacant for more than a year will hurt the United States Supreme Court's ability to do its job," Baldwin said on the Senate floor on March 14 of last year. "Their message to Washington and the Republican majority is simple: do your job so the Supreme Court can do its job, on behalf of all the American people."
"The American people deserve better, better than a long term vacancy that can jeopardize the administration of justice across our whole country," she continued. "So I call on my colleagues to join together on behalf of the American people to fulfill our constitutional obligation to restore the United States Supreme Court to its full strength."
On Thursday, however, Baldwin announced that she will oppose Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch, just two days after the nomination was made. The Democratic senator also said Gorsuch should only be confirmed with a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate, rather than a simple majority of 51 votes.
Baldwin also said last year that "political obstruction" threatens American democracy itself.
"The American people cannot afford partisan obstruction that threatens the integrity of our democracy and the functioning of our constitutional government."
In 2013, Baldwin made similar comments about filibuster threats from Republicans.
"Recently, the threat of filibuster has been used far too often and as a result political obstructionism in the United States Senate is now worse than it has ever been," Baldwin said. "The people of Wisconsin and our state's progressive tradition deserve better. I will proudly join Senator Tom Udall and Senator Jeff Merkley by co- sponsoring legislation to reform the use of the filibuster in the United States Senate."
Some Senate Democrats have threatened to filibuster the nomination of Gorsuch.