Senator Collins took the floor at three o’clock, at least twenty-five senators were present, including five Democrats. As she began to speak, several protesters started shouting and were removed from the room. The presence of her colleagues was touching and reassuring in light of the hecklers. She was flanked by two fellow women Republican senators, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia. She was pleased when she realized they were behind her because so many people had attempted to say that women must uniformly oppose Kavanaugh, a position she found insulting.
It wasn’t just the Senate floor that was riveted. Cable outlets broadcast the speech live. Kavanaugh’s chambers, still without functional internet, relied on texts from Claire Murray at the White House about this decisive moment they had been working toward for months.
Collins began by lamenting that special interest groups and Democratic senators had announced their opposition to Kavanaugh from the moment of his nomination, one colleague even opposing the nomination before it was announced, and had misrepresented his judicial record. “Our Supreme Court confirmation process has been in steady decline for more than thirty years,” she said. “One can only hope that the Kavanaugh nomination is where the process has finally hit rock bottom.”18
Citing Alexander Hamilton, Collins stated her view that “the president has broad discretion to consider a nominee’s philosophy, whereas my duty as a senator is to focus on the nominee’s qualifications as long as that nominee’s philosophy is within the mainstream of judicial thought.”
“I have always opposed litmus tests for judicial nominees with respect to their personal views or politics, but I fully expect them to be able to put aside any and all personal preferences in deciding the cases that come before them,” she said, noting her support for the five previous nominations by three presidents of different parties.
Collins then offered a review of Kavanaugh’s legal reasoning on severability, executive privilege, and abortion. She highlighted his description of Justice Kennedy’s Obergefell opinion as an “important landmark precedent,” suggesting Kavanaugh would stand by the Court’s redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples. She suggested he would also honor the precedent established by the court’s rulings legalizing the right to abort unborn children. Summing up his judicial career, she noted, “Judge Kavanaugh has received rave reviews for his twelve-year track record as a judge, including for his judicial temperament.”
Turning to the question on which the fate of the nomination depended, Collins noted that “the Senate’s advice and consent was thrown into a tailspin following the allegations of sexual assault by Professor Christine Blasey Ford. The confirmation process now involves evaluating whether or not Judge Kavanaugh committed sexual assault and lied about it to the Judiciary Committee.”
“This is not a criminal trial,” she noted, “and I do not believe that claims such as these need to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” She was holding Ford’s allegation to the lower standard of “more likely than not.” Collins explained, “The facts presented do not mean that Professor Ford was not sexually assaulted that night or at some other time, but they do lead me to conclude that the allegations failed to meet the more-likely-than-not standard. Therefore, I do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent Judge Kavanaugh from serving on the Court.”
After speaking for forty-three minutes, she finished by saying, “Mr. President, I will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh.” With that, Kavanaugh’s confirmation was virtually assured, even though the vote wouldn’t take place until the next day.
Collins’s courage heading into a tough election cycle was remarkable. Withstanding threats, bullying, and extreme media malpractice, she deliberated soberly and thoroughly while Republican senators facing fewer risks and under less pressure went wobbly.
Kavanaugh, working in his office, had not watched the speech live. But an emotional Ashley called him and urged him to watch it right away. Collins and Kavanaugh had developed a rapport; they respected each other’s public service, preparation, and dedication. The judge knew that it would have been easier for her to give in to the tremendous pressure to vote against him, or at least to cast an affirmative vote without drawing attention to herself. Grateful for her critically important stand, expressed with strength and grace in her floor speech, he conveyed his thanks in a text message and promised that he would not disappoint her. The senator appreciated his good will, but she did not take his words as a signal that she would always agree with him, any more than she agrees with