Sen. Susan Collins is raising media eyebrows with her opposition to one of President Trump's federal judicial nominations, the Washington Post reports. The Maine Republican said Friday she won't back federal nominee Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has severely criticized gay and transgender people, as a district judge in the Northern District of Texas. Kacsmaryk "has dismissed proponents of reproductive choice as 'sexual revolutionaries,' and disdainfully criticized the legal foundations of Roe v. Wade," says Collins. "Such extreme statements reflect poorly on Mr. Kacsmaryk’s temperament and suggest an inability to respect precedent and to apply the law fairly and impartially."
Not everything about Kacsmaryk would make Collins' head spin—he has, after all, referred to Supreme Court decisions as "superprecedent" and won an award for protecting national security while serving as assistant US attorney for the Northern District of Texas, from 2008 to 2013. But he has also called transgenderism "a mental disorder" and referred to Catechism in slamming gay acts as "intrinsically disordered." Such opinions inspired a letter from 75 LGBT and allied groups to Congress opposing Kacsmaryk. His nomination will likely withstand Collins' opposition, per the Post, but it's notable after she faced fierce criticism last year for helping confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. A vote to end a filibuster of Kacsmaryk is slated for Tuesday, per CNN. (More judicial nominations stories.)
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