Senator Susan Collins known as President Joe Biden's dealing with of his Supreme Courtroom nomination "clumsy at finest."
After Supreme Courtroom Justice Stephen Breyer introduced his retirement final week, Biden doubled down on his pledge to appoint a Black girl to the nation's highest court docket in what could be a historic first. Whereas many praised him for the potential progress in variety, some have criticized the president for contemplating race and gender in his nomination.
Collins, a centrist Maine Republican, has lengthy been a key swing vote for Supreme Courtroom nominees. She has a historical past of crossing celebration traces to vote for judicial nominees throughout the Biden period.
She stated whereas showing on ABC Information' This Week Sunday that she helps Biden nominating a Black girl to the court docket and could be open to voting in favor of "whomever he decides to appoint," including she's going to resolve primarily based on their qualifications.
"I might welcome the appointment of a Black feminine to the court docket," she stated. "I consider variety advantages the Supreme Courtroom."
However she nonetheless provided criticism of the way in which Biden has dealt with the nomination.
"The way in which that the President has dealt with this nomination has been clumsy at finest," she stated. "It provides to the additional notion that the court docket is a political establishment like Congress, when it's not speculated to be."
If Democrats lose a single vote on Biden's nominee, Collins might develop into a key participant within the course of given her monitor document of voting for Biden's nominations to decrease courts.
She beforehand urged Democrats to take their time with the method after Majority Chief Chuck Schumer stated he anticipated a "truthful course of that strikes rapidly."
"I felt that the timetable for the final nominee was too compressed," Collins advised reporters on Thursday. "This time, there is no such thing as a want for any rush. We will take our time, have hearings, undergo the method—which is a vital one. It's a lifetime appointment, in any case."
Collins was certainly one of solely three Republicans to vote in favor of confirming Decide Ketanji Brown Jackson, certainly one of Biden's prime picks for the court docket, to serve on the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit final yr.
She additionally joined Democrats in voting in opposition to Supreme Courtroom Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a nominee of former President Donald Trump, as a result of vote's proximity to the 2020 presidential election.
Newsweek reached out to Senator Collins' workplace and the White Home for remark Sunday morning. This story can be up to date with any remark.
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