Prior to Kavanaugh's confirmation vote, Senator Collins receives 3,000 hangers from anti-abortion activists

Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, meets with Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at her office before a private meeting in Capitol Hill, Washington, on Tuesday, August 21, 2018.

(AP Photo / Jose Luis Magana)

After a week of controversial hearings for Supreme Court candidate Brett Kavanaugh, the focus has been on the vote of voters in the Senate and the crucial role they will play in the confirmation process. .

Senator Susan Collins of R-Maine, who recently received a particularly unusual gift to convince her opinion, is one of the legislators in the hot seat.

A package of 3,000 hangers arrived at the Collins office in Washington, DC, symbolizing the abortions done before they became legal with the Roe v. Wade 1973 – hoping to convince the pro-choice senator to vote against Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation.

Collins, a centrist Republican who fought against the GOP's efforts to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, is one of the few Republicans targeted by activists hoping to prevent Kavanaugh from joining the bench. the judge.

Democrats argue that President Trump chose Kavanaugh to vote against Roe v. Wade. Liberal groups broadcast television ads encouraging the senator to reject the nomination.

The activists also pledged to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund an opponent to Collins if it votes in favor of appointing the president. She must be re-elected in 2020.

If Collins votes yes, then he is probably confirmed. She and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – another pro-choice Republican – should probably both vote "no" for Kavanaugh to be blocked.

For his part, Collins remained silent on his vote.

Yet she sent signals that Kavanaugh broke through an obstacle by telling him that Roe v. Wade establishing abortion rights is an established law. A Collins spokesman said on Saturday that an email recently published by Kavanaugh – in which he disputed that all jurists consider Roe as settled – was not at odds with what he had said to the senator because he did not express his personal opinions.

"I'm still waiting for the hearings to be over before making a decision, and I'll do that too," Collins said.

Collins, for one, follows the same process that she used with John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, both GOP nominees, and Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, Democratic nominees.

"I voted for Sotomayor justice, and I also voted for Alito justice," she said, referring to judges at the other end of the ideological spectrum. "I respect the fact that one of my jobs is to determine whether the candidate is qualified for the court, has the required experience, has the judicial temperament and respect for precedence," she added.

Although she has never voted against a Supreme Court nominee, Collins is committed to rejecting a hostile candidate at the Roe v. Wade. She said that Kavanaugh had told him during their face-to-face meeting that he considered the 1973 decision as an established legal precedent.

But Kavanaugh said in an email from 2003, while working for the administration of President George W. Bush, some jurists might consider the idea of ​​precedent differently and that the Supreme Court "can always reverse its precedent". Kavanaugh said the comment did not reflect his personal views, but "what the lawyers could say".

Collins voted last month to keep funding for Planned Parenthood a day after the same organization rallied to Washington to encourage him to vote against Kavanaugh. On Thursday, the group sent letters to his office in Bangor.

"I learned not to expect a" thank you "," Collins said.

Associated Press contributed to this report.