Collins’s office received 3,000 coat hangers protesting Kavanaugh

Activists have sent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) 3,000 coat hangers, referencing back-alley abortions, in their efforts to persuade her to vote against the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

The mail-ins accompany TV ads aimed at swaying the senator’s vote and pledges to fund her Senate opponent in 2020 if she votes to confirm Kavanaugh, The Associated Press reports. 

{mosads}The centrist Collins is seen as a critical swing vote in Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing and has said she wouldn’t vote to confirm a nominee who was hostile to Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortions. 

She said Kavanaugh during a meeting told her he considered the case to be established precedent. However, critics are concerned about a recently revealed email from 2003, from when Kavanaugh worked in the Bush administration, in which Kavanaugh said the Supreme Court “can always overrule its precedent.”

A Collins spokeswoman told the AP the email didn’t change the senator’s mind about what Kavanaugh had told her.

“I always wait until after the hearings are complete before making a decision, and I’ll do so in this case as well,” Collins, who has never voted against a Supreme Court nominee, told The Associated Press in an interview.

Kavanaugh’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee came amid controversy surrounding the release of documents from his time in government and often devolved into partisan sniping among members of the committee.