Susan Collins would like Maine to notice this principled vote

She'll oppose Blanche for attorney general, though Murkowski and Cassidy could still confirm him with McConnell absent.

state sign maine at the highway with welcome greeting. Image: travelview/shutterstock.com

Facing a difficult reelection campaign, Susan Collins has located a line she says she will not cross: confirming Donald Trump's former personal lawyer as attorney general. She has made abrupt about-faces over controversial votes in the past, saddling us with a terrible Supreme Court, among other things.

Collins' opposition does not kill the nomination by itself. With Mitch McConnell absent, Blanche can lose two Republican votes and still be confirmed; Lisa Murkowski and Bill Cassidy have not announced their decisions. Collins therefore gets either a useful reelection vote or the rare opportunity to help stop a Trump nominee.

We've seen Sen. Collins state she would vote against something one day and then do the opposite the next, but this seems a bit more on point. At best, it's a performative vote against him because he colleagues will make sure her vote doesn't matter.

Blanche is as corrupt an Attorney General as we've ever seen.

"While I believe Mr. Blanche is a capable lawyer, the Department of Justice has become increasingly political," Collins said in a statement. "Mr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the Department's independence, and that is the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation."

The venerable senator from Maine is running for a sixth term as the only Republican incumbent seeking reelection in a state Trump lost. She has opposed several of Trump's priorities during his second term, while also casting the decisive vote to confirm conspiracy theorist and charlatan Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary.

Courage is considerably safer when the other Republicans have been counted.