“Given the proximity of the presidential election, nonetheless, I don’t imagine that the Senate ought to vote on the nominee previous to the election,” the Maine senator stated in a Saturday assertion.
“In equity to the American folks, who will both be re-electing the President or choosing a brand new one, the choice on a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court docket ought to be made by the President who’s elected on November third,” stated Collins.
Senate Republicans, who maintain the bulk within the higher chamber, solely want 51 votes to substantiate a brand new justice as soon as one is formally nominated. Presently, there are 53 GOP senators — which means they will solely lose three Republicans earlier than Vice President Mike Pence might solid a tie-breaking vote.
In a message to GOP senators that very same night time, McConnell urged his colleagues to not lock themselves right into a place and recommended them to be cautious about what they’re telling the media about their views on course of the nomination, in keeping with an individual who noticed the word.
In her assertion, Collins acknowledged Trump’s authority to appoint a alternative and stated she wouldn’t be against the Senate Judiciary Committee beginning the overview course of.
Collins has already stated that there’s not sufficient time to substantiate somebody earlier than November.
“To ensure that the American folks to place confidence in their elected officers, we should act pretty and persistently—irrespective of which political get together is in energy. President Trump has the constitutional authority to make a nomination to fill the Supreme Court docket emptiness, and I might haven’t any objection to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s starting the method of reviewing his nominee’s credentials,” she stated.
