Senator Collins Not Backing Anti-Abortion Supreme Court Nominee
Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine has advised President Donald Trump that he should pick someone for the Supreme Court who would respect legal precedent, including the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that upholds legal abortion.
A replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy, who recently announced his retirement effective July 31, is currently being considered by President Donald Trump. Collins has also suggested to Trump that he should go beyond the list of 23 possible justices he has previously announced during the campaign, preferably one that will not have an "activist" agenda, as she called it.
"I told [Trump] that I was looking for a nominee that would demonstrate a respect for precedent," she said in an interview with ABC's "This Week" show, as quoted by Reuters.
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"A candidate for this important position who would overturn Roe v. Wade would not be acceptable to me, because that would indicate an activist agenda that I don't want to see a judge have," Collins said in an interview last Sunday, July 1, according to Time Magazine.
The White House has since then confirmed that five more candidates have been added to Trump's list as of this last weekend. Collins has noted that these new names gave her the notion that the president is still deliberating on his choice.
"This was genuine outreach on his part," Collins said about the changes to the list, adding that there were some names on there that she simply "could not support."
Legal abortion is currently seen as one of the key issues that senators will ask Trump's nominee in the upcoming confirmation hearings. As for Trump, he has said that in his interviews with potential nominees, he will not be asking them whether or not they would overturn Roe v. Wade, a pro-abortion ruling that has long been opposed by conservatives.
