Collins Has Refused To Say If She Would Confirm Barrett To SCOTUS Under Different Procedural Circumstances
Senator Collins has taken great pains to reassure her Republican base that her current position on Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court is not grounded in her assessment of Barrett’s qualifications for the job but instead on a procedural technicality. Yesterday on the George Hale Rick Tyler show, Collins was adamant that her current position is “not an assessment of the merits of Judge Barrett,” leaving Mainers to wonder — under different circumstances, would Senator Collins vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett based on her qualifications?
Of course, Collins already voted to confirm Barrett to her current seat on the Seventh Circuit, despite the overwhelming evidence available at the time of her hostility to the Affordable Care Act, reproductive rights and equality for LGBTQ+ Americans. Now, new information about Barrett is coming to light, including the fact that she signed on to a full page ad in her hometown paper calling for Roe v. Wade to be overturned. Collins, armed with even more information about how dangerous Judge Barrett would be for Mainers’ rights, still refuses to say whether she would vote to confirm her for a second time. Mainers deserve answers.
Once again we see Senator Collins playing both sides. After she waited until it was certain that her vote would have no impact on the outcome before announcing that she would vote against Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Republican operatives cheered her opportunity to “earn plaudits for opposing the nomination on procedural grounds while appealing to conservatives by offering qualitative praise of the prospective justice,” and that’s exactly what she’s doing now.
“Senator Collins already voted to confirm Barrett once, despite ample evidence of the threat she posed to our health care and our rights. She needs to answer if she would do it again,” said Maine Democratic Party Executive Director Lisa Roberts. “Senator Collins must stop dodging this question and tell Mainers whether she believes Amy Coney Barrett is qualified to serve on the Supreme Court.”
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