Sen. Susan Collins says she does not regret her 2018 vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, even though she disagrees with key aspects of his record. Collins, a Republican from Maine, acknowledges that she is “disappointed” by Kavanaugh’s role in the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion. Across reports, Collins describes her position as both a defense of her confirmation decision and criticism of the outcome of the court’s landmark abortion ruling.
The outlets also note the political context around Collins’s comments. She is facing a difficult re-election environment, with Democrats seeking to use Kavanaugh’s confirmation as a political issue. In her interviews, Collins emphasizes that while she voted for Kavanaugh despite disagreement on abortion-related issues, she remains unhappy with the court’s conservative majority decision regarding abortion rights. Her remarks underscore a distinction between her support for the justice at confirmation and her dissatisfaction with later rulings.
