Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who would be a crucial vote to President Donald Trump’s nominee to U.S. Supreme Court, has made it clear that a nominee who supports overturning Roe v. Wade “not be acceptable.”
During an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” the senator told ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz that the most important trait for a Supreme Court nominee is to “respect precedent.”
“I would not support a nominee who demonstrated hostility to Roe v Wade,” Collins told CNN’s “State of the Union” program.
Collins said that she has met with Trump to discuss the need to fill the Justice Kennedy’s seat, who announced that he will be retiring from the highest court in the land at the end of July, Reuters reports.
According to ABC News, Collins told the president there were several qualities that we important for a new justice, including “judicial temperament, intellect, fidelity to the rule of law,” but “most important of all, respect for precedent.”
The Maine senator, who is a supporter of abortion rights, said that Roe v. Wade has been established as a constitutional right and that a “candidate who would overturn Roe would not be acceptable.”
On “This Week,” Collins also noted she told the president there were potential nominees on his list that she could not support, “because I believe that they have demonstrated a disrespect for the vital principle of stare decisis,” which is Latin for judicial precedent, and encouraged Trump to expand the number of nominees he is considering.
Collins added that “it would be inappropriate” to ask a nominee how they would vote on a future case.
“A discussion of precedent, however, is very important,” Collins said. “What I want to see is a nominee who, regardless of his or her personal views on the very difficult and contentious life issue, is going to respect precedent, regardless.”
According to Reuters, Trump said on Friday that he will be announcing his Supreme Court nominee on July 9, and has narrowed down his list of potential nominees to five individuals, including two women.