In her statement, Senator Collins outlined a number of "troubling instances" that call into question Mr. Holmes' ability to serve as federal judge, a lifetime position, in a fair and impartial manner. Specifically, she pointed to a letter to the editor where Mr. Holmes once wrote, "concern for rape victims is a red herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami." She noted that Mr. Holmes apologized for this public statement only after he had been nominated to a federal judge position, many years after the statement was made.
In addition, Senator Collins expressed concern about a 1997 article authored by Holmes where he wrote, "the wife is to subordinate herself to her husband and the woman is to place herself under the authority of the man. In addition, Holmes authored a letter for the Arkansas Gazette entitled, "The Scary New Argument for Abortion," where he compared certain arguments justifying abortion to arguments used to justify the actions of the Nazi Regime.
"I carefully review every nominee to ensure that he or she is well-qualified and possessed the proper professional competence and integrity," said Senator Collins. But Mr. Holmes' history of inflammatory statements could cause the parties before him to question whether his strong personal beliefs would allow him to follow settled law and apply it in a fair and unbiased way. That is why I oppose this nomination.
The nomination was approved in a final vote of 51 to 46.
####