PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine Sen. Susan Collins came out in support of Republican President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch on Tuesday.
Collins, a Republican who is frequently described as a moderate, spoke from the Senate floor about her support for Gorsuch, saying he is “eminently well-qualified to serve on our nation’s highest court.”
Gorsuch currently sits on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Denver. Collins said they recently met for more than an hour.
Senate Democrats forced a one-week delay in a committee vote on Gorsuch on Monday. On Tuesday, Collins advised against her colleagues “playing politics” with judicial nominees.
“It politicizes our judicial nomination process and threatens the independence of our courts, which are supposed to be above partisan politics. Perhaps most important, it undermines the public’s confidence in our judiciary,” she said.
On Tuesday, a coalition of pro-labor, environmentalist and women’s rights groups called for Collins and Maine Sen. Angus King to oppose Gorsuch’s confirmation.
The coalition of 17 groups includes Maine AFL-CIO, Planned Parenthood Maine Action Fund and Sierra Club Maine. The groups said they fear Gorsuch “will not protect our rights as Americans or as Mainers.”
King is an independent who caucuses with Democrats. He has said he is reviewing Gorsuch’s record and will make a decision about how he’s voting on the confirmation.
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