I’m seeing a lot of tweets this morning criticizing Senator Susan Collins for her supposed double standard on Supreme Court nominations. Here’s a good example of the genre:
As you know, the rules are different depending on which side I'm on. This is politics 101. Consistency is the most overrated value in politics. https://t.co/LKrwejPftT
— Lee Drutman ⚙️🏛 (@leedrutman) January 27, 2022
But the approach that Collins is outlining here is exactly the same approach that Collins took with “the last nominee,” Amy Coney Barrett — which is why Collins broke with her party and voted against her. That Collins is saying today that the timetable for Breyer’s replacement should not be “compressed” either does not represent a departure from her previous position, but a continuation of it.