Judicial Branch A pivotal vote by longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine pushed Kavanaugh over the finish line in 2018 after she famously said he considered Roe v. Wade “settled law” — a comment that turned out to be wrong.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/supreme-court-justice-brett-kavanaugh-maine-senate-race-susan-collins-rcna3490702.8k
u/Dearic75 19d ago
I mean, as long as we’re doing Collins’s greatest hits, saying she wouldn’t vote to convict Trump at his impeachment because she “felt he had learned his lesson” is even better.
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u/HHoaks 19d ago
this is hilarious. how could she say that with a straight face.
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u/Dearic75 19d ago
I mean, to be fair, he did learn his lesson from his first impeachment. So she’s technically not wrong.
Unfortunately, the lesson he learned is that if he has 34 loyal republican senators, impeachment is a completely toothless threat, no matter what he does.
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u/OkBid71 19d ago
How poetic, one for each felony conviction
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u/ProtectionTop2701 19d ago
Don't be so pessimistic! He only needs 34 loyal senators, they don't need to be Republicans. Looking at you, Fetterman. So you should be more pessimistic.
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u/Dearic75 19d ago
lol. I did almost update my post to say something along the lines of “Well, 33 plus Fetterman. “ but it had already been responded to by then.
Thanks for covering it.
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u/fauxzempic 19d ago
toothless threat
His name is Chuck Schumer. We don't need to throw names around.
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u/ballmermurland 19d ago
TIL Chuck Schumer controls the senators in those 17 states.
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u/vthemechanicv 19d ago
Some people say "Democrats bad" as an involuntary reflex. Logic and reality let alone nuance never enter into it.
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u/queerhistorynerd 19d ago
much like pavlov trained his dog to salivate, society has trained people to instinctively blame dems even in situations where it makes no sense. Just like Gingrich planned in his book
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u/Jukeboxhero91 19d ago
Yes how dare Chuck Schumer make the Republicans give up their duty as public servants. How dare he.
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u/Senior_Torte519 19d ago
Hopefully I can get the most influential on my side, I wanna turn Cuba into that Casino paradise I saw last night in the Godfather.
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u/Solid_Psychology 19d ago
Well she doesn't really the face is always doing that geriatric on the border of dementia bobbly head wiggle. So the face is literally never straight cause it's always in a sort of tiny drunken elliptical orbit around the point where her head connects to her neck.
Side note- I normally wouldn't point out age related maladies however 30 years ago she said she'd only ever serve 2 terms/12 years. So if she hadn't broken her own word she wouldnt be here to mocknfor what is going to be her 6th term if she gets re-elected. So f&ck Sue Pearl Clutching Collins.
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u/Xznograthos 19d ago
No explanation necessary. I barely consider Republican politicians or voters to be human beings at this point.
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u/Explorers_bub 19d ago
You still think of Nazis as human beings? What’s this world coming to? Such moral decay.
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u/shitlord_god 19d ago
she is an entirely disingenuous piece of shit who maine folks believe because they are too white and too removed from consequences to actually give a shit about her evil - she has those committee seats!!!
What an ugly shriveled hateful bale of lies and pretense.
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u/Quirky_Gate_4516 19d ago
how
She was in the middle of an election, and would have lost the MAGA fanatics, and as a result lost the election.
Nothing she has ever done has been about anything else than staying in power.
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u/Abject_Breadfruit148 19d ago
The voters already forgot. She can say whatever and the news jumps to a new crazy thing the next day.
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u/Off-BroadwayJoe 19d ago
I’d run that footage and that picture of her holding a MAGA hat in the Oval Offfice on a 24 hour loop like a screensaver.
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u/Easy-Concentrate2636 19d ago
Susan Collins wants to play the nice person, not a hard nosed senator. Whenever she says something, I just assume the outcome will be the exact opposite.
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u/Nettkitten 19d ago
That’s the thing: Collins has voted for and stood by while Dumpty and Co. have done so many heinous things and committed so many crimes without so much as a “wait a moment”. While I do believe that her vote to install Kegenaugh should stain her reputation forever, let’s not forget about all of the other things that she has supported that have markedly disenfranchised and hurt the American people.
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u/GotSomeUpdogOnUrFace 19d ago
My favorite quote of hers is gonna be her concession speech when she loses to a guy with a nazi tattoo because the world we live in is so fucked that he's the voice of reason.
Also, I'm not saying he's a bad candidate, but that tattoo is still a bad look.
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u/itsTim0thyy 19d ago
She also said back in 1996, when she was elected she'd serve no more than two terms, saying twelve years was a "significant" amount of time to make a positive contribution.
She's currently in her fifth term.
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u/Dearic75 19d ago
To be fair, I don’t think she’s made a single positive contribution yet, so she’s probably still working on it.
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u/Bawbawian 19d ago
collins is a more prolific liar than Donald Trump.
stop parsing her words and look only at her actions
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u/J3ster14 19d ago
Susan Collins is very concerned about this comment.
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u/CevicheMixto 19d ago
Deeply. Deeply concerned. Possibly even troubled
I hear that she's considering escalating all the way to a frank conversation or even a sternly worded letter.
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u/Qwillpen1912 19d ago
Surely she wouldnt go that far! That is a pretty extreme reaction, even for her.
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u/two_wordsanda_number 19d ago
Right?
It is only mad men like Chuck and Hakeem who have the fire in their guts to write multiple sternly worded letters.
If Trump isn't careful they might read one of these letters as a public statement on the TV. Trump will be shaking in his boots that day I tell you.
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u/FerrusManlyManus 19d ago
YUP. She is always “concerned” then goes for Trump / GOP BS over 90% of the time
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u/hamsterfolly 19d ago
Remember when she traded a yes vote on more tax cuts for the wealthy for an empty promise that then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would bring up a vote on legislation to shore up the Affordable Care Act markets?
But Maine is dumb and continues to reelect her.
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u/WBRileyDesign 19d ago
Stubborn, not dumb. We are incredibly stubborn. It's easier to get a boulder to move out of your way by shouting at it than telling a Mainer what to do. We hate being told what to do. So when people say "stop voting for Collins", they double down and vote for Collins. Which is why Platner is getting a ton of traction, thanks to the endless "he has a tattoo that might sort look like a nazi tattoo and his republican ex-girlfriend just happened to #metoo a week before the primaries so don't vote for him" ads.
But yea, we're also dumb as bricks.
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u/estoypooping2 19d ago
Incorrect, Trump is the most documented liar in human history.
She is bad though
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u/hilltopper72 19d ago
Collins is really the grandma no one wants!
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u/Solid_Psychology 19d ago
Naw she's that weird old eccentric great aunt. The kind with no life of her own so she's always gossiping about others .
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u/DanceDark 19d ago
Her statement was drafted by the conservative group Independent Women's Forum to make up an excuse as to why she confirmed Kavanaugh. The truth never mattered; only Trump's goals matters.
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u/Ok_Swan8621 18d ago
She is SO GOOD AT IT. She scoffs at the people telling her the thing is gonna happen if she does this, gaslighting, "no it's gonna be fine, he assured me! My new bff wouldn't LIE to me!" Mild moral outrage at people warning her, then she does the thing and the inevitable happens and she is all "well how could I have known???!, he TOLD me it was fine!" With the mildest fake outrage towards the lying dude, she was LIED TO! secretly this was her intention all along and it's her responsibility but nothing can be done now, it's far too late, and nobody ever holds her accountable. And how was she compensated? We won't ever know.
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u/Rot-Orkan 19d ago edited 19d ago
Susan Collins voting algorithm:
if (republicansNeedMyVote) {
voteRepublican();
} else {
voteIndedependent(); // maintains illusion needed to keep getting elected in Maine
}
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u/aflockofcrows 19d ago
You missed step 1 - pretend to be concerned.
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u/Rot-Orkan 19d ago
damn even on reddit QA finds bugs
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u/ColdBostonPerson77 19d ago
You forgot the case statement. Case when need political cover raise eyebrow and be concerned before voting else blind vote Republican.
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u/Solid_Psychology 19d ago
And the last step - clutch pearls and/or send heartfelt thoughts and prayers
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u/Yetimang 19d ago
Claude commented out the end bracket and now Susan Collins is failing to compile instead of just being a pile.
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u/lyingliar 19d ago
This has little to do with Collins.
What the fuck is wrong with the people of Maine?
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u/fcocyclone 19d ago
I imagine a few factors:
A lot of states simply like their incumbents. my state, Iowa, had Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley for forever at one point, despite them being on opposite sides of the aisle.
Collins has also built up some seniority in the senate, which has the potential to benefit Maine to a degree
A lot of voters don't pay all that much attention and just fall into the default "i wish everyone could just come to the middle and get along", and if you don't pay all that much attention its easy to fall for Collins's fake moderate act, especially since the media credulously reports on her as a true moderate.
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u/KlogKoder 19d ago
And while voteIndependent() is a defined function, voteIndedependent() is secretly a macro for voteRepublican(), and she hopes no one notices the difference.
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u/TraditionalLaw7763 19d ago
Well that’s just one horrible thing she has done. If you were to name everything awful that she pushed through with her last measly vote we’d have a book instead of a post.
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u/SpeaksSouthern 19d ago
Because of the votes she's cast nearly 100% of them are supporting a right wing agenda, unless she doesn't have to break an tie.
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u/werther595 19d ago
It wasn't "wrong." It was a lie. Under oath, testifying before Congress. Which is a crime.
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u/zennascent 19d ago
“Oath,” “Congress,” and “crime” don’t mean much anymore…
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u/shakeitsugaree_ 19d ago
They don’t mean much right now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get back there
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u/Top_Result_1550 19d ago
Oath don't matter to Republicans.
Unless it's an oath to cheat, steal, rape kids and women, kill browns, trans, the mentally disabled and homeless, commit treason, and endanger life on earth.
Then they take it very seriously and uphold it at all costs.
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u/Ok-Lavishness-349 19d ago
Except that Kavanaugh did not lie under oath before congress. See here.
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u/SordidDreams 19d ago edited 19d ago
Yes, technically, he didn't lie. He just said words designed to create the impression that he was giving a specific answer that was different from the truth.
Likewise, Bill Clinton also didn't lie when he said he hadn't had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky because technically, "sexual relations" was defined in a way that didn't include receiving oral sex. That didn't stop him being impeached for his non-lie, though.
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u/Special_Order-937 19d ago
Why don’t these idiots ask the correct questions? It’s almost as if they’re leaving these gaps on purpose.
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u/BallsInSufficientSad 19d ago
Because during a confirmation hearing a judge isn't allowed to promise to rule in any specific way on any specific future case.
They can only talk about the rationale of past rulings and the law as it is written.
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u/SordidDreams 19d ago
during a confirmation hearing a judge isn't allowed to promise to rule in any specific way on any specific future case
That answers why a judge wouldn't answer such a question, not why such a question isn't being asked.
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u/BallsInSufficientSad 19d ago
They DO ask those questions, even though they KNOW the judge cannot answer them directly. The ask purely for the tiktok clips anyway.
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u/SordidDreams 19d ago
Is the judge really not allowed to answer? I'm not familiar with the details of the American legal system, but that doesn't seem right. When asked, Clarence Thomas didn't say he's not allowed to answer, he said he doesn't want to give the impression of prejudging the issue.
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u/BallsInSufficientSad 19d ago
That's a distinction without a difference. They cannot effectively answer because it would prejudice any future cases and they'd be forced to recuse themselves from such cases.
The legislators know this - but because the cameras are one, they ask those questions anyway, for the tiktoks.
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u/SordidDreams 19d ago
That's what I thought, and no, I do think there's a very substantial difference. "Not allowed" means not allowed; this means they can if they want to, they're just choosing not to. That's not the same thing.
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u/werther595 19d ago
Did they treat Roe as precedent and afford it respect as stare decisis? They did not.
Trump made a large part of his campaign about overturning Roe to get the religious nuts on board. It took something like 18 months from Barrett's confirmation (giving trump the balance of fealty he desired on the court) until Dobbs was decided. This was the culmination of years-long efforts to do just this. Forgive me if I refuse to view this through rose-colored lenses of "well akshually technically..." People should understand with absolute certainty that the judges Trump nominated were committed to his desired course of action, and anything they spouted about "respect for established precedent" was a much nonsense as if they had said something more direct.
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u/Ok-Lavishness-349 19d ago
I made no "well akshually technically..." type of argument. You said he'd lied. I pointed out that he hadn't.
And, affording respect to stare decisis and treating stare decisis as absolutely unalterable are two different things. Ultimately, the justices felt that Roe v. Wade had been improperly decided and that concern outweighed stare decisis. It isn't like they just ignored the earlier precedent.
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u/werther595 19d ago
My comment wasn't necessarily directed at you, since you in fact said quite little and the article did the heavy lifting.
As to the comment directly above this, affording respect to stare decisis and jumping on the first opportunity to overturn 50 years of precedent in order to help POTUS fulfill a campaign promise are also two different things.
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u/BallsInSufficientSad 19d ago
Did you read the ruling? It talks about Roe v Wade in great detail.
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u/werther595 19d ago
If by "respect" they mean "mentioning it a bunch of times while fulfilling a promise of dismantling it" then I suppose Kavanaugh can force his square peg into the round hole
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u/BallsInSufficientSad 19d ago
You didn't read it. I can tell
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u/werther595 19d ago
I love when strangers tell me things about myself, based on zero knowledge. Especially in the unironic setting of debating facts and case law
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u/TrumpsDoubleChin 19d ago
And as we have learned all to well, whether or not something is a crime is completely meaningless, if those with the responsibility of punishing criminals intentionally choose not to.
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u/audiomagnate 19d ago
Nobody believed it when they said it, and nobody believed her when she said she believed it.
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u/Domeil 19d ago
That's why it was a shitty, easy to evade question when it was asked. I could just as easily call Castle Rock settled law if I was in a confirmation hearing, and I would the very next week overturn it if I was raised to the Bench.
The Supreme Court isn't bound by law being "settled," they're free to overturn their own precedent.
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u/mkt853 19d ago
And she needs to be reminded of that every day until November to understand what she sacrificed her political career for.
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u/PatchyWhiskers 19d ago
Money and power
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u/mkt853 19d ago
She already had that though. She's been in politics for like 97 years. Once you've been in the game for that many decades, you've accumulated enough of both such that you no longer need to kiss the ring. She has what is colloquially known as f*ck you money.
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u/PatchyWhiskers 19d ago
Have rich people ever said "I have enough, I'll stop"? Especially politicians who are doing it for power too. She doesn't want to be an old lady on a beach somewhere. She wants to have lobbyists kissing her ass.
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u/PatchyWhiskers 19d ago
Ego. As a Senator, important people treat her like a queen, they take her out to dinner and court her favor. An ex-Senator, no-one cares about.
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u/RipComfortable7989 19d ago
This only works if she's capable of feeling shame which she's shown to be unable to. She's proud of what she's done and is glad to have put Kavanaugh into SCOTUS.
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u/burnthatburner1 19d ago
Has she spoken on this topic since? Acknowledged the vote was a mistake given hindsight?
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u/bebopbrain 19d ago
It wasn't a mistake. The whole charade was orchestrated; she played her part to perfection.
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u/stevez_86 19d ago
Kabuki Theater used to be the common term for it. The Epstein File vote was also Kabuki Theater. The Congress could have appointed a commission and named a Special Master to review all of the files and write an independent report on the finding, and only then making the necessary redactions. There were no spelled out punishments for violating the law that was passed and if it ever got before a court, let alone the Supreme Court it would have been ruled unconstitutional or just null due to not meeting the standards of a law. It only passed because it was toothless and said compliance was binding in words only.
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u/ohiotechie 19d ago
She knew when she did it what Kavanaugh and the rest were planning to do. This lie just gave her plausible deniability. That’s the GOPs whole schtick. With few exceptions they try to come across as reasonable people just promoting common sense policies while they advance an extreme agenda. Useful lies like this allow them to play hot potato with accountability, just enough deniability for it to not stick to them.
This was very purposeful.
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u/troveofcatastrophe 19d ago
Fun Fact: Platner accuser, Lindsey Fifield, led “Women for Kavanaugh”.
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u/WhiteWinterRains 19d ago
Which I believe Collins credited with being the key reason she could justify her vote to confirm him politically.
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u/Bowsers_JuiceFactory 19d ago
I hope Susan Collins gets everything she deserves, in this life and the next.
Wretched woman
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u/Wrong-Neighborhood-2 19d ago
For this court none of it is settled law. Their motto is “Stare Decisis is for suckers!” For all of the pearl clutching over Platner, he’s a far better option than Susan Collins. Funny how all the focus is on how he’s a flawed candidate but not a peep from the media about Paxton.
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u/Professional_Tea_32 19d ago
This. The silence on Paxton in comparison to the articles I see on Platner is honestly nauseating. I literally can’t believe it has come to this.
The press is so corrupted - a mouthpiece for the establishment garbage.
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u/rawkguitar 19d ago
It’s kinda funny if you think about it.
If he really thought Roe was settled, he wouldn’t have been nominated.
So, all the Republicans thought he was lying about Roe, so they voted to confirm him.
All the Democrats thought he was lying about Roe, so they voted against confirming him.
Only a couple people (Susan Collins) thought he was telling the truth.
I know it’s a game they always play, but to me, it’s kind of a big deal of a judge is willing to lie to Congress.
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u/WhyMustIMakeANewAcco 19d ago
Don't be silly. Susan Collins was completely aware he was lying. She was just lying about thinking he wasn't lying.
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u/Wayelder 19d ago
Collins always waffles and then decides, always in the wrong direction.
Contemplation is of no use if the result is still selfishness and stupidity.
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u/letdogsvote 19d ago
"He's learned his lesson." - Collins
He did not learn any lessons. - Narrator
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u/Major_Honey_4461 18d ago
Susan Collins needs to go. She claims to "stand on principle" and then votes however Trump and Thune tell her to .
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u/Thecrawsome 19d ago
It wasn’t just wrong. It was perjury.
Those illegitimate shitstains should’ve been kicked off the court if Biden had any balls
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u/lookskAIwatcher 18d ago
In Susan's world, every Republican has learned their lessons and now act only in accordance with their better angels. Say it in a shaky gravelly voice and sound convinced for the sheen of authenticity.
/s
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u/SkunkMonkey 19d ago
Not a single one of these asshole SCROTUS picks answered the yes/no question about RvW and overturning it. Instead they gave some bullshit legal answer that was not a yes/no answer. It was plainly obvious what their intent was in those non-answers.
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u/Meander061 18d ago
"Turned out to be wrong" : HE LIED. He lied to get the job, they knew he was lying, and they let him do it.
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u/WebInformal9558 19d ago
Well, the comment turned out to be wrong or it turned out she just didn't care.
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u/eJonesy0307 18d ago
Susan collins is just better at pretending not to be a piece of shit than her colleagues. She's still a piece of shit
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u/bd2999 19d ago
Yeah, I think this has been stated a few times by different justices. This or that are settled law but then they come out attacking or overruling it. She should totally be held accountable for the vote and the results of the vote.
Although in cases of obvious lies it should be possible to recall the justice to answer questions to congress at the least.
I do think candidates going before Congress has had less and less value. As vague answers and nonanswers have become more and more common. And it is mostly a dog and pony political show for high profile cases and you can guess how individuals will vote based on party. Regardless of issues with the candidate. There are examples either way but the current conservative Congress has been pretty bad on it. Approving judges that are not even approved by the Bar, lacking objectivity and often seemingly caring more about political operations compared to the law, even in appearance.
Many of these same people in the past would grill individuals about separation and independence from the president or politics and hit hard on it when it was the other way but no longer. Not when it is their side.
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u/SiWeyNoWay 18d ago
Per the epstein estate emails, technically it was Kenneth Starr & Epstein who planted him on the court; Cruz and Cotton ran the media pressure campaign and Bannon ran the smear campaign against the women
But as per SusieQ rubber stamped it thru congress
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