The Collins factor
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is predictably beating the drums against the confirmation of an "ideological" nominee (which are perfectly fine when a Democrat is in the Oval Office and the ideology being promoted is Schumer's).
Here's the thing: most Americans want abortion rights restricted. According to Gallup, that's been the case ever since 1994 (the figure is currently 53%). The notion that the status quo enjoys the support of the majority of the American people is a delusion just as firmly embedded in the minds of leftists as the delusion that Donald Trump has anything to do with the present favorable state of the economy is among the extremists on the other side of the political divide.
The left has been using logically and constitutionally dubious court rulings to impose its values on the American people for far too long. The defeat of President Trump's nominee (assuming- and I do so assume unless he or she proves to be otherwise- that it will be of a justice as well-qualified as Neil Gorsuch) would be the one thing that could convince me to do something I have until now ruled out: go to the polls this fall and vote Republican.
Nor am I alone. It's Susan Collins and the Democrats who are out of step not only with the American people but with reason here. The defeat of Mr. Trump's nominee on ideological grounds- a stunt the Democrats have pulled before, but which Republicans have traditionally foregone- will have one certain effect: the next Democrat in the White House will have zero chance of getting any Supreme Court nominee confirmed with Republican support. Nor should there be any.
As for Sen. Collins, her odd statement was worded in such a way that she didn't appear to rule out voting for a nominee who hasn't openly expressed opposition to Roe v. Wade. Given the possibility that cases involving abortion rights might come before them, it's unlikely that anyone that President Trump would nominate will have done so. This may be simply a matter of Sen. Collins- a liberal whom the New York Times and other leftist news organizations are fond of mischaracterizing as a "moderate-" covering her left flank in the face of a nomination which will very likely change the character of the Court from a rogue branch of the government misusing the power of judicial review to trash the separation of powers and dictate public policy according to the justices' person whims into a deliberative body which will once again be about the business of honestly and objectively interpreting the Constitution and the law in general.
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