U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today issued the following statement after voting against President Biden’s judicial nominee Anthony Johnstone to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

“The Ninth Circuit has substantial influence over Montana and our way of life. It is critical that Montana’s lone seat on this court is held by someone that better reflects Montana values, not someone who will be a rubber stamp for President Biden’s far-left agenda. Mr. Johnstone’s record proves that rather than upholding the rule of law and protecting Montana values, he supports President Biden’s wide-open southern border and undercutting Montanans’ Second Amendment rights.”

Montana gets one seat on the Ninth Circuit Court, which is the largest circuit court with 29 active judges.

Johnstone came out in support of President Biden’s border policies that have led to an unprecedented two million border apprehensions this year as well as the uptick in drugs in Montana communities.

In an interview about a Second Amendment case in the Ninth Circuit, Johnstone spoke favorably of the extreme, anti-Second Amendment opinion that essentially wrote the right to “bear arms” out of the Constitution.