Susan Collins continues to reject more judicial nominees under Biden than previous administrations
Nearly three years into President Joe Biden’s term, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ rate of opposition to judicial nominees is notably higher than it was during the Trump, Obama, Bush and Clinton administrations — a shift that comes amid a push by Democrats to counter the conservative tilt of the federal bench.
Of the 159 Biden judicial nominees that the Senate had voted on as of the end of November, Collins opposed 23, or about 14.4%, an analysis by Maine Morning Star found.
Collins’ rate of voting to confirm Biden judges about 85% of the time — including his lone U.S. Supreme Court pick, Ketanji Brown Jackson — puts her at the top of the list of Republicans who have most frequently supported the president’s judicial nominees, along with Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. But it does represent a noticeable change from Collins’ previous record of voting to confirm nearly all judicial picks and stands in contrast to Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats and has voted in favor of each of Biden’s judicial nominees.
Per an analysis conducted earlier this year by the Portland Press Herald, Collins rejected just 5% of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees, 6% of President Barack Obama’s, 1% of President George W. Bush’s, and 2% of President Bill Clinton’s.
In his judicial nominations, Biden has made a point to diversify a federal judiciary that is overwhelmingly white, and 105 — or 66% — of the judges he has successfully elevated are people of color. Of those 105 nominees, Collins has opposed 21, or 20%. But, in part as a result of Biden’s emphasis on diversity, those 21 “no” votes represent the vast majority — 91% — of Collins’ overall votes against his judicial nominees, according to an analysis by Maine Morning Star.
Amy Fried, professor Emerita of political science at the University of Maine, said the uptick in Collins’ opposition to judicial nominees under Biden cuts against the centrist image the senator has sought to cultivate.
“It just doesn’t seem to fit her self presentation when it comes to being a moderate and supporting presidential nominees regardless of party and on the basis of qualification,” she said.
When it comes to Collins’ votes against some nominees who are people of color, Fried said the senator’s decision likely comes down to her opposition to something within their record. However, Fried noted that Biden’s judicial nominees have been highly rated by the American Bar Association (ABA), with his nominees thus far either being deemed well-qualified or qualified by the group.
During Trump’s presidency, 10 of his judicial nominees received majority not qualified ratings from the ABA, with Collins voting for several of those picks.
“If she’s afraid of partisanship [with judges], that was an extremely partisan and ideological process under Trump,” Fried said, noting that many Trump judges had ties to the conservative Federalist Society.
In a statement to Maine Morning Star, spokesperson Annie Clark defended Collins’ lower approval rate of Biden’s judicial nominees, pointing out that the senator has voted to confirm more Biden judges than any other Republican in the Senate.
”When she evaluates judicial nominations, she does not base her votes on whether the nominee was selected by a Democratic president or a Republican president,” Clark said of Collins. “She evaluates them based on the merits.”
Clark also noted that the rules around judicial confirmations were changed in 2013, when Senate Democrats moved to allow judges to be confirmed by a simple majority rather than a 60-vote threshold. However, that was not reflected in Collins’ position on judicial nominations during the latter part of the Obama administration and during Trump’s presidency as significantly as her voting record has shifted on Biden’s nominees.
Collins’ increased rate of opposition to judges under Biden comes as attention on the judiciary has increased after a series of controversial decisions by a conservative-led U.S. Supreme Court, including the overturning of federal abortion rights last year, a ruling that limits the EPA’s ability to enact strong environmental regulations and a decision curtailing gun safety regulations in New York.
There has also been a renewed focus during Biden’s presidency on elevating nominees for seats on the federal judiciary after Trump nominated judges at a historic rate compared to other recent presidents, filling district and circuit courts of appeal with conservatives who could serve for decades in many cases.
Fried said lower court nominations are important for several reasons. One is that judges elevated to the appeals court level are often who presidents consider for seats on the Supreme Court.
Additionally, while the Supreme Court often hears the highest profile legal disputes, Fried noted that most cases never reach that level and are instead decided in the court of appeals system.
The influence lower court judges can have was seen earlier this year when a Trump appointee, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, opted to suspend the FDA’s authorization of a frequently-used abortion pill (although the Supreme Court has put a hold on that ruling while it reviews the case). Additional Trump-appointed judges have targeted the Affordable Care Act, through which 40 million Americans get health insurance; allowed funding for Trump’s border wall to go forward; and permitted gerrymandered congressional maps, among other decisions.
Collins voted for 95% of those Trump nominees, a stance that has drawn criticism from some activists, particularly when the senator opted to elevate an anti-abortion judge.
Collins’ position on judicial nominations has come under scrutiny at several other points in recent years, most notably in 2018 when she cast a pivotal vote for Trump Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh, despite concerns about his views on abortion and accusations of sexual assault against him. In defending her vote, Collins claimed that Kavanaugh — along with Neil Gorsuch, another of Trump’s Supreme Court nominees that the Maine Republican supported — would respect precedent and not overturn Roe v. Wade.
Kavanaugh and Gorsuch both voted last year to overturn the landmark abortion ruling.
Maine Morning Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maine Morning Star maintains editorial independence.
