In October of 2017, Senator Susan Collins voted to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to her current judgeship on the Seventh Circuit. At the time there was ample evidence of Barrett’s hostility to reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and the health care law that protects millions of people with preexisting conditions; but Collins ignored the protestations of advocates for women and LGBTQ+ Americans and cast a vote to install Barrett in a lifetime seat on the federal bench.
Collins helped position Barrett to become Donald Trump’s third Supreme Court nominee after she had already signed onto a letter expressing her opposition to marriage equality and attacked the Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act. Even knowing that Barrett believes that cases like Roe v. Wade are not settled law, and had argued that abortion is “always immoral,” Senator Collins judged her fit to serve in the federal judiciary where she has now ruled twice in favor of restrictions on abortion.
Now, only after it was clear that her vote would have no impact on the outcome of the confirmation, Collins has gotten a hall pass to dodge the political consequences of confirming Barrett to the Supreme Court.
Barrett is nowhere near the only controversial nominee Senator Collins has helped Trump install. In fact, during 2017 and 2018, Collins voted to confirm every single Trump judicial nominee, including those rated “not qualified” by the American Bar Association and dozens of judges who oppose abortion rights. By voting to confirm 181 judges nominated by the Trump administration and by never casting a deciding vote against a Trump judge, Collins has been the linchpin in Trump and McConnell’s strategy to remake our courts with right wing judges who will threaten the rights of all Americans for decades to come.
“Senator Collins voted to put our rights on the line when she voted to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Seventh Circuit and put her in position to be elevated all the way to the Supreme Court,” said Maine Democratic Party Chair Kathleen Marra. “Make no mistake: our health care and our rights are at risk because of Trump’s takeover of the judiciary with extreme right wing judges. And Senator Collins has been with Trump every step of the way.”
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