Republican Susan Collins toes GOP line and announces she will vote 'yes' on Kavanaugh confirmation

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) announced Friday that she would vote yes on putting embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on the nation's highest court.

"Our Supreme Court confirmation process has been in steady decline for more than 30 years. One can only hope that the Kavanaugh nomination is where the process has finally hit rock bottom," she said on the Senate floor.

In a lengthy speech, Collins complained about the attacks on Kavanaugh and defended his judicial record. She insisted Kavanaugh would not endanger women's reproductive rights.

She also remarked on the sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh. "The presumption of innocence and fairness do bear on my thinking and I cannot abandon them," she remarked.

Collins said she found Christine Blasey Ford's testimony against Kavanaugh to be "sincere, painful and compelling." But the senator said Ford had not provided any collaborating evidence that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her.

"The allegations fail to meet the more likely than not standard," she said.

Along with Senators Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Collins was considered to be on the fence over Kavanaugh's nomination despite massive pressure from her constituents to vote no.

As a result of the decision to approve Kavanaugh, Collins is expected to face a hard road to re-election in 2020, with an opposition group already having received commitments from individuals to contribute close to $2 million to defeat her.

The confirmation vote is expected to go forward on Saturday, barring any unforeseen revelations about Kavanaugh or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) postponing it due to the possibility Kavanaugh might not be approved.