US Sen Collins will not back antiabortion Supreme Court nominee
WASHINGTON: A key moderate Republican US senator said that she will not support a nominee to fill a soon- to- be-vacated seat on the Supreme Court who would overturn a landmark legal ruling that supports a woman’s right to abortion.
The comments by Susan Collins, a frequent Senate swing vote, narrowed the path to confirmation facing any nominee Republican President Donald Trump selects to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is retiring from the high court.
“I would not support a nominee who demonstrated hostility to Roe v Wade,” Susan Collins told CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ programme, referring to the 1973 landmark abortion decision.
Abortion was expected to be a key topic for senators when they question Trump’s nominee in confirmation hearings. The president has said he will not be asking possible nominees, whom he has already started interviewing, whether they would overturn Roe v Wade. Antiabortion conservatives, mostly Republicans, have long opposed the ruling.
Trump said he plans to announce his nominee on July 9 and that he has narrowed his list of contenders to about five, including two women. He did not identify any of them.
He has said he wants to move quickly and he will choose from a 25-person list of contenders compiled for him by White House lawyers and conservative legal activists in Washington.
Collins told ABC’s ‘ This Week’ programme, “I told that I was looking for a nominee that would demonstrate a respect for precedent ... I also suggested that he broaden his search.” She added that there were people on Trump’s initial list that she could not support.
Republicans control the Senate, which must confirm any nominee, by a 51- 49 majority, making the views of moderates such as Collins, and some Democrats, crucial to assembling the 51 votes needed for confirmation.
The task is further complicated by the status of Republican Senator John McCain, a war hero and former Republican presidential nominee. — Reuters