In a Feb. 9 letter to the Tribune I applauded Sen. Mitt Romney for his vote to impeach President Donald Trump, and I lamented the absence of such principled leadership in Susan Collins, the senior senator of my state of Maine.
Unfortunately, the shoe is now on the other foot, as Collins has announced she will not vote to confirm a Supreme Court nominee before the November election, and Romney has announced he’s fine with a pre-election vote. Never mind that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hijacked Obama’s Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland. Never mind that Romney has called Trump a “phony” and a “fraud,” and has said that dishonesty “is Trump’s hallmark.”
Never mind all that. Amy Coney Barrett has proven herself completely unfit for the Supreme Court by her willing participation in a White House announcement of her appointment in which no one wore a mask and there was little if any social distancing. This from someone who had already been infected with the coronavirus — and that event is now being linked to a widespread COVID-19 infection that is ripping through the White House and well beyond.
This is criminal negligence and reckless endangerment, both of which are crimes. But more than that it demonstrates a careless and wanton disregard for human life, and it makes Amy Coney Barrett completely unfit for the Supreme Court. I invite Mr. Romney to return to his principles and oppose the clearly unfit Amy Coney Barrett.
Lawrence Reichard, Belfast, Maine