Republican Senator Susan Collins has said that there is “no need for any rush” when it comes to confirming President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee.
Following the retirement of liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, the president will be tasked with nominating a replacement in the coming weeks.
Reports indicate that Mr Biden will seek to make history by nominating the first ever Black woman to the Supreme Court. And yet, whoever is picked, Republicans are not likely to lend the president any votes in support of the nominee during an election year.
Ms Collins, a self-described moderate senator from Maine, attempted to push back on Mr Biden’s expected swift timetable to confirm his Supreme Court pick.
“This time there is no need for any rush. We can take our time, have hearings, go through the process, which is a very important one it is a lifetime appointment after all,” she told reporters.
“As you know, I felt that the timetable for the last nominee was too compressed,” Ms Collins added, referring to the confirmation of conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was nominated by former President Trump.
Senate Democrats do not need any Republican votes to confirm Mr Biden’s nominee, as the party has a 50-vote majority in the chamber, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.
President Biden has yet to put forward a nominee, although as the New York Times reports, he and his administration have been planning for this moment for over a year, with prior knowledge that Justice Breyer was contemplating retirement. An early short list candidate has emerged in Ketanji Brown Jackson. She currently serves on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
