Susan Collins Has a Chance to Show the American People What She’s Really Made Of

Since Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement last week, people from all political persuasions have been either cheering for or dreading the likely repeal of Roe v. Wade, the ruling that made abortion access a fundamental right in the U.S. And with Republicans holding a slim majority in the Senate, there's next to nothing that Democrats can do alone to stop whoever Trump eventually nominates from his Heritage Foundation–approved list of judges.

But with 51 Republican senators, the GOP can only afford to lose one vote, and Susan Collins, one of the only Republicans in the Senate who can be called a moderate, is positioning herself as the first to jump ship. In an interview with ABC on Saturday, Collins said, "A candidate for this important position who would overturn Roe v. Wade would not be acceptable to me, because that would indicate an activist agenda that I don’t want to see a judge have." She reiterated the point on Sunday, when she told Jake Tapper of CNN, "I would not support a nominee who demonstrated hostility to Roe v. Wade because that would mean to me that their judicial philosophy did not include a respect for established decisions, established law."

Before anyone breathes a sigh of relief, though, it's important to remember that there's no reason to take Collins's comments at face value. She didn't say unequivocally that she would vote against a nominee who opposed abortion, only that she wouldn't support one who "demonstrated hostility to Roe v. Wade." It's not hard to imagine a nominee giving assurances in a hearing that, no, of course not, they would never think of overturning such established precedent, only to veer to the right as soon as they were confirmed. It's not as though there's a recall process.

Furthermore, in the same CNN interview, Collins tried to assure Tapper that she didn't even believe that Chief Justice John Roberts would vote to overturn Roe. Neither would Neil Gorsuch, because she "had a very long discussion with Justice Gorsuch in my office, and he pointed out to me that he is a co-author of a whole book on precedent." This came just days after Gorsuch voted to overturn precedent in a ruling against labor unions.

Since last summer, when she was one of the three Republicans who tanked an Obamacare repeal, Collins has earned a reputation as someone who stands up to Donald Trump. However, her voting record dovetails with the president's agenda more than 79 percent of the time, and despite a few instances of defiance, she's shown little interest in being a moderating force. If Collins really is interested in protecting abortion rights and proving herself a moderate, here's her chance.