Dear Senator Collins:

Thank you for your prompt reply to my letter.

I was astonished to read your assessment of Judge Kavanaugh. Mr. Kavanaugh is the most unqualified Supreme Court nominee to come before the Senate in modern history. I have read some of his opinions, and I am shocked that Kavanaugh passed the bar exam, much less was admitted to the bench.

Most troubling is Kavanaugh's belief that the President does not have to obey court orders (!) and that the President can effectively repeal laws he doesn't like simply by refusing to enforce them. All the President has to do is proclaim the law unconstitutional. "Under the Constitution," Kavanaugh declared, "the President may decline to enforce a statute that regulates private individuals when the President deems the statute unconstitutional, even if a court has held or would hold the statute constitutional." This is rubbish, of course. Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution reads that the President "shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed." The President must uphold all the laws. There are no exceptions. Though Kavanaugh made those comments in the context of the Affordable Care Act, he could apply that reasoning to any other law -- the Civil Rights Act, for instance. The Constitution clearly establishes that the Presidency, Congress, and the court system are equal branches of government. The President must obey the law and follow court orders just like any other citizen. Kavanaugh does not believe in an independent judiciary. Kavanaugh is essentially a monarchist who wants to surrender the Court's authority to the President. That alone should disqualify him.

This is especially troubling in that Donald Trump was implicated in campaign finance violations earlier this month. In the next year the Supreme Court may be called upon to decide whether the laws forbidding obstruction of justice apply to the President; whether the President can pardon himself; whether the President has to obey a court order forbidding him from taking undocumented immigrants' children away; whether the President can fire an independent counsel investigating a Russian cyberattack; whether the President has to obey subpoenas; whether a sitting President can be indicted (Kavanaugh says he can't); and so on. Kavanaugh is a champion of presidential power, and it is no coincidence that Trump nominated such a champion amidst his own legal troubles. No defendant in criminal proceedings should get to choose their own judge.

Furthermore, Kavanaugh has no respect for precedent. Even though the Supreme Court ruled in 1973 (Roe v. Wade) that a woman has the right to an abortion, Kavanaugh authored an opinion (Garza v. Hargan) stating that the government has a duty to prevent abortions -- even in the case of a teenager who had been raped.

Likewise, Chief Justice Roberts -- who also claimed that Roe v. Wade is "settled law" during his confirmation hearings -- has used his position to uphold every restriction on abortion that has come before the Court. Kavanaugh made his own beliefs clear when he cited Roberts' language. Like Roberts, Kavanaugh only claims that the abortion debate is behind us in order to win confirmation to the Supreme Court. Once seated, Kavanaugh -- like Roberts -- will do everything he can to overturn Roe's precedent. Kavanaugh told you what you wanted to hear in order to mask his real agenda.

Senator, a woman's right to an abortion is supported by the majority (64%) of the people in Maine and by the majority of Americans. Only 11% of Americans believe that the government should force a rape survivor to bear a violent sex offender's children, even when the woman does not and never did want anything to do with him. Though that tiny minority has a right to their beliefs, they do not have the right to force those beliefs on the rest of us. Senator, you swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and you must protect our rights from extremists like Judge Kavanaugh.

Senator, Kavanaugh is the most unpopular Supreme Court nominee in forty years. He is opposed by a majority of your constituents; by the Sierra Club; by the NAACP; by the Anti-Defamation League; by the Human Rights Campaign; by the League of Conservation Voters; by the AFL-CIO; by the National Organization for Women; by the Southern Poverty Law Center; by the YWCA; and by many other people and organizations too numerous to list here.

Senator Collins, the people of Maine elected you to be our representative in Washington. As a citizen of Maine, your duty is to vote against Judge Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.

Yours sincerely,
C. Colvin

CC: Senator Jeff Flake; Senator Joe Manchin; Senator Lisa Murkowski

Dear Mr. Colvin,

Thank you for contacting me regarding the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the United States Supreme Court. I appreciate your taking the time to do so.

I met with Judge Kavanaugh for more than two hours in my office, and we had a productive, informative discussion about a wide range of issues, including his judicial philosophy, his respect for precedent, and the importance of an independent judiciary. I specifically asked Judge Kavanaugh if he had made any commitments or pledges to the Federalist Society, or the White House, about how he would decide any legal issues. He unequivocally assured me that he had not made any such commitments and he expressed his deep respect for the independence of the judiciary. I also was pleased to learn that Judge Kavanaugh believes, as I do, that Article III of the Constitution was intended to include the concept of precedent and that he sees precedent as much more than simply a matter of practice and tradition. In addition, he expressed agreement with Chief Justice Roberts’ confirmation hearing statement that Roe v. Wade is settled precedent and entitled to respect under principles of stare decisis.

Over the past thirty years, the handling of Supreme Court vacancies has become increasingly contentious, and this time is no exception. It is the constitutional duty of senators to give our advice and either give or withhold our consent for judicial nominations. As with all judicial nominees, but especially for a Supreme Court Justice, I am carefully considering Judge Kavanaugh’s intellect, integrity, qualifications, experience, temperament, and respect for precedent, the rule of law, and the Constitution. This is the approach I have taken with every judicial nominee who has come before me, including Supreme Court Justices nominated by Presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump.

I do not, however, disqualify or approve judges because of their personal beliefs. Rather, I focus on their qualifications and fitness to serve as a federal judge . As a result, the nominees I have voted to confirm span the ideological spectrum. For example, I supported the nominations of both Justice Sotomayor, the Court’s most liberal member, and Justice Alito, who is among the Court’s most conservative justices.

I look forward to Judge Kavanaugh’s public hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. As has been my practice, I will continue to review Judge Kavanaugh’s record and will closely follow the hearings before reaching a decision on whether to support the nomination.

Again, thank you for contacting me.

Sincerely,

Susan M. Collins
United States Senator