Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) broke with President Biden and Senate Democrats on Wednesday for the second time in two days over a high-profile nominee when he voted against Dale Ho, Biden’s nominee to serve as a judge on the Southern District of New York, accusing him of “hateful words” and “partisanship.”
“Mr. Ho’s prior inflammatory statements make me doubt whether he can be impartial when interpreting the Constitution. Hateful words and partisanship should never be characteristics of someone on a federal bench and, for this reason, I have voted against Mr. Ho’s nomination,” Manchin said in a statement.
Ho, who has criticized Republican lawmakers on Twitter, last year apologized for the tone of his social media posts, acknowledging it was “overheated rhetoric.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, criticized Ho last year for tweeting “attacks at multiple members” of the Judiciary Committee, while Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), another member of the panel, described Ho as “angry.”
Ho, who served as director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, criticized GOP senators including Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) in multiple tweets.
Manchin opposed Biden’s first choice to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget, Neera Tanden, in February 2021 because of public statements and tweets he characterized as “toxic.”
Manchin was the only Senate Democrat to vote Tuesday against Jared Bernstein, Biden’s nominee to serve as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Manchin voted on Tuesday against a procedural motion to advance Ho’s nomination.
The nominee was confirmed by the Senate in a 50-49 vote Wednesday.