Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said President Joe Biden’s handling of campaign vows to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court was “clumsy at best” compared to promises from former Presidents Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan to appoint women to the nation’s highest court while in office.
During a Sunday appearance on ABC‘s This Week, Collins criticized Biden for helping to “politicize the entire nomination process” by making the promise while campaigning amid the 2020 presidential race.
“I would welcome the appointment of a Black female to the court,” Collins told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “I believe that diversity benefits the Supreme Court. But the way that the president has handled this nomination has been clumsy at best.”
“It adds to the further perception that the court is a political institution like Congress when it is not supposed to be,” she added. “So I certainly am open to whomever he decides to nominate. My job as a senator is to evaluate the qualifications of that person under the advice and consent role.”
Biden made the pledge during a March 2020 primary debate against opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders, after a voter asked the candidates how their respective cabinets would address women’s “physical and financial health.”
“Number one I committed that if I’m elected as president and have the opportunity to appoint someone to the courts, I’ll appoint the first Black woman to the Court. It’s required that they have representation now — it’s long overdue,” Biden said.
In response, Stephanopoulos raised similarities between Trump and Reagan’s previous pledges to appoint woman justices.
“You say that it’s clumsy, but isn’t it. … Isn’t it exactly what President Reagan did when he said he would appoint a woman to the Supreme Court? Isn’t it exactly what President Trump did when he said he would appoint a woman to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“Actually, it isn’t exactly the same,” Collins disputed. “I’ve looked at what was done in both cases and what President Biden did was, as a candidate, make this pledge, and that helped politicize the entire nomination process.”
“What President Reagan said is as one of his Supreme Court justices, he would like to appoint a woman, and he appointed a highly qualified one in Sandra Day O’Connor,” Collins continued.
The Washington Post reported Reagan’s vows on Oct. 15, 1980, weeks before he would go on to be officially elected president on Nov. 4.
“It is time for a woman to sit among our highest jurists,” Reagan stated, adding, “I will also seek out women to appoint to other federal courts in an effort to bring about a better balance on the federal bench.”
According to The Guardian, Trump made his comments on Sep. 19, 2020, during a North Carolina rally following Justice Ginsberg’s death: “I will be putting forth a nominee next week. It will be a woman,” Trump said, adding, “I think it should be a woman because I actually like women much more than men.”
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