Susan Collins was astoundingly wrong about Brett Kavanaugh
It turns out that Susan Collins was wrong. Again.
Collins, the Republican senator from Maine, has long cultivated an image as one of her party's moderates, particularly on the issue of abortion. But in 2018 she cast a critical vote for conservative Brett Kavanaugh to replace moderate swing vote Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court — and did so despite opposition from pro-choice activists. Kavanaugh recognized the court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling as a long-established precedent, Collins said. "Protecting this right [to abortion] is important to me," she told the Senate. She defended her support the next year, even after Kavanaugh voted to let a Louisiana anti-abortion law take effect.
Collins' belief in Kavanaugh was implausible in 2018. It's less plausible now. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court allowed a new Texas law — one that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — to go into effect. Later this year, justices will hear a direct challenge to Roe in a case from Mississippi. Abortion rights in the United States have rarely seemed more fragile than at the present moment.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"This is a de facto overturning of Roe before the Supreme Court has time to hear the Mississippi case," Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson said of the court's silence in the Texas case.
If the court does indeed overturn Roe — or finds a way to gut the ruling without exactly striking down the precedent — Kavanaugh won't do it by himself. There are five other conservative justices on the nine-member court, including Amy Coney Barrett. But Kavanaugh's elevation to the court will rightly be judged as a key moment in shifting the court's ideological balance on abortion and other issues. And Collins will have enabled that shift, in spite of her professed values.
At this point, Collins doesn't have the greatest track record in judging people. She voted against convicting Donald Trump during his first impeachment, famously saying Trump had learned "a pretty big lesson" from the affair. He hadn't, and Collins ended up voting for conviction at his second impeachment trial. Kavanaugh, however, has a lifetime appointment to the bench. Susan Collins won't get a do-over this time.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Joel Mathis is a freelance writer who has spent nine years as a syndicated columnist, co-writing the RedBlueAmerica column as the liberal half of a point-counterpoint duo. His work also regularly appears in National Geographic, The Kansas City Star and Heatmap News. His awards include best online commentary at the Online News Association and (twice) at the City and Regional Magazine Association.
-
Passenger: 'pleasingly off-kilter' ITV crime drama
The Week Recommends There's 'plenty to be feared' in this British murder mystery set in a quiet northern town
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: March 27, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sudoku hard: March 27, 2024
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Will Aukus pact survive a second Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question US, UK and Australia seek to expand 'game-changer' defence partnership ahead of Republican's possible return to White House
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Cubans rally for 'power and food' in rare protests
Speed Read The protests came after 18-hour rolling blackouts and food supply shortages
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Iran at the crossroads: have the mullahs lost their grip?
In Depth Iranian voters delivered a 'stinging rebuke' to the regime in parliamentary elections
By The Week UK Published
-
The state of Russian opposition after Navalny
The Explainer Potential challengers to Vladimir Putin have been jailed, exiled or barred from ballot
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Haiti leader agrees to exit amid growing chaos
speed read Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced his resignation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Litigation will not save us from Trump'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court keeps Trump on ballots
speed read They ruled that Colorado and other states cannot disqualify former President Donald Trump from federal office
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Shut these dangerous and parasitical robots down before it's too late'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published