Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced this weekend that she will vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
Many see that as a reversal, since Murkowski said in September that she did not favor confirming a new justice before the presidential election. But Murkowski says she’s still following the precedent set in 2016, when she and her fellow Republicans refused to take up President Obama’s nominee in an election year. Murkowski said in a speech on the Senate floor Saturday that she’s remained consistent by voting no on procedural motions to bring the confirmation up for a vote.
Murkowski voted with Senate Democrats Friday and Sunday, against measures to advance the nomination to a confirmation vote. Republicans had the majority they needed without her.
Murkowski says that leaves her with a different choice.
“At the end of the process is the substantive question of whether Judge Barrett should be categorically rejected as an associate justice in order to underscore my procedural objection,” she said.
Murkowski says she’s voting to confirm based on Barrett’s qualifications.
“I have no doubt about her intellect. I have no doubt about her judicial temperament. I have no doubt about her capability to do the job and to do it well,” she said.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine reached the opposite conclusion. Collins and Murkowski are the two Republicans least likely to vote with their party on health care, abortion and Supreme Court confirmations. But Collins said that to be “fair and consistent” she would vote against Barrett. She said her decision wasn’t based on Barrett’s qualifications but on her objection to confirming a justice before a presidential election.
Alaska’s other senator, Dan Sullivan, voted with the majority of Republicans Friday, in favor of advancing toward the confirmation.
This story has been updated.
