Maine Senator Susan Collins voted to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. In 2022 both joined the majority in the Dobbs decision, which overruled Roe v. Wade.
On April 3, 2025, Collins voted to confirm D. John Sauer as solicitor general. His office's emergency requests produced 35 Supreme Court shadow-docket decisions, most of them for the administration, letting mass firings, research cuts and immigration sweeps go forward. Collins also voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general, whose Justice Department kept deportation flights going after a federal judge ordered them halted.
In her October 5, 2018 floor speech, Collins said Kavanaugh had assured her he respected long-established precedent.
Maine Senator Susan Collins's Votes on Supreme Court Justices and the Justice Department's Lawyers, and Her Statements on Roe
- Collins Voted to Confirm Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, Who Joined the Majority That Overturned Roe v. Wade. Susan Collins voted to confirm Neil Gorsuch as an associate justice of the Supreme Court on April 7, 2017, when he was confirmed 54 to 45, and voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh on October 6, 2018, when he was confirmed 50 to 48. On June 24, 2022, both justices joined the five-justice Dobbs majority that overruled Roe v. Wade and ended the federal constitutional right to abortion. In Texas, which banned abortion, ProPublica found that The rate of sepsis shot up more than 50% for women hospitalized after a second-trimester pregnancy loss.
- Collins Voted to Confirm the Solicitor General Who Won 26 Emergency Orders for the Administration. On April 3, 2025, Susan Collins voted to confirm D. John Sauer as solicitor general, the Justice Department's lawyer before the Supreme Court, and he was confirmed 52 to 45. Of 35 shadow-docket decisions on the administration's actions, 26 ruled for the administration at least partially, including orders letting it terminate research grants at the National Institutes of Health, end Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans and Haitians, and expand a federal database to check voters' citizenship, according to the Brennan Center. The Court also ruled in Trump v. CASA, argued by Sauer's office, that universal injunctions likely exceed the equitable authority that Congress gave federal courts.
- Collins Voted to Confirm Pam Bondi, Whose Justice Department Kept Deportation Flights Going and Then Filed a Complaint Against the Judge. On February 4, 2025, Collins voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general. In March 2025 Alien Enemies Act deportation flights continued after Chief Judge James Boasberg ordered them halted, and he later found that probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt, an inquiry the full D.C. Circuit is reviewing after it vacated a divided panel's April 14, 2026 order ending the inquiry and agreed on June 22, 2026 to rehear the case, and no one has been held in contempt. Boasberg also ruled that the men deported on those flights were denied due process, NPR reported. In July 2025 Bondi's department filed a misconduct complaint against Boasberg, and an appeals judge dismissed it, faulting the department for failing to provide "sufficient evidence".
- Collins Said Kavanaugh Would Respect Long-Established Precedent; He Joined the Ruling That Overturned Roe. In an October 5, 2018 Senate floor speech announcing her support for Brett Kavanaugh's nomination, Susan Collins said of the right to abortion: "Protecting this right is important to me." She said Kavanaugh had told her that "a long-established precedent is not something to be trimmed, narrowed, discarded, or overlooked." Four years later Kavanaugh joined the majority that overruled Roe, the 49-year-old precedent Collins said he would respect.
What the Administration's Court Fights Under Officials Susan Collins Confirmed Mean for Maine
- Emergency orders. Of 35 Supreme Court shadow-docket decisions on the administration's actions, the Brennan Center found that the orders for the administration have led to mass firings of civil servants, the defunding of scientific research and racial profiling in immigration sweeps.
- Abortion rights. Since the Dobbs decision overruled Roe and Casey, abortion rights in Maine depend on state law rather than the U.S. Constitution.
Frequently Asked Questions About Susan Collins on Courts and judges
What is Susan Collins's record on the courts under Trump?
Susan Collins voted to confirm Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, and both joined the 2022 majority that overturned Roe v. Wade. Under Trump she voted to confirm Solicitor General John Sauer, whose emergency requests won 26 of 35 Supreme Court shadow-docket decisions at least in part, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose department filed a misconduct complaint against a judge that was dismissed.
How did Susan Collins vote on Trump's solicitor general?
Susan Collins voted on April 3, 2025 to confirm D. John Sauer, who was confirmed 52 to 45. Sauer's office argued Trump v. CASA, in which the Supreme Court limited the nationwide orders that lower courts had used to pause administration policies for everyone, not only the people who sued.
What did Susan Collins say about Brett Kavanaugh and Roe v. Wade?
Susan Collins said in her October 5, 2018 floor speech that "Protecting this right is important to me" and that Kavanaugh had assured her about respecting precedent; in 2022 he joined the majority that overruled Roe. At the October 6, 2026 Maine Senate debate, Troy Jackson asked her, "What will it take for you to admit that you were wrong?", and Collins answered that she evaluates Supreme Court nominees based on their qualifications and experience, Maine Morning Star reported (a paraphrase of her answer). Asked about Kavanaugh at a campaign event at a fire station in Randolph, Maine in the summer of 2026, Susan Collins said, "I would vote for him again, yes," The New York Times reported in August 2026.
Last updated: 2026-10-25