{"id":159569,"date":"2026-08-05T11:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T19:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/05\/todd-blanche-loses-susan-collinss-vote-blame-his-secret-promises-to-anti-abortion-groups\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T11:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T19:41:10","slug":"todd-blanche-loses-susan-collinss-vote-blame-his-secret-promises-to-anti-abortion-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/05\/todd-blanche-loses-susan-collinss-vote-blame-his-secret-promises-to-anti-abortion-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"Todd Blanche Loses Susan Collins\u2019s Vote. Blame His Secret Promises To Anti-Abortion Groups."},"content":{"rendered":"

Susan Collins has made her decision. The Maine Republican announced Tuesday<\/a> that she will vote against Todd Blanche\u2019s confirmation as Attorney General, citing a list of concerns that reads like a greatest hits of everything we\u2019ve been covering since the nomination dropped<\/a>: the IRS audit immunity, the $1.8 billion slush fund<\/a>, the DOJ\u2019s attempt to charge senators over constitutionally protected political speech, the 1,200+ former DOJ employees who opposed his nomination<\/a>. And one thing we haven\u2019t covered yet: what Blanche has apparently been telling anti-abortion groups behind closed doors.<\/p>\n

According to The Hill<\/a>, Blanche promised an anti-abortion organization that he would work to make Dobbs<\/em> \u201cpermanent\u201d if confirmed to the AG role. He reportedly said he\u2019d seek to prohibit the mailing of abortion medication to women nationwide, an interpretation of the Comstock Act that would further limit reproductive choices across the country without Congress passing a single law. In his own words, \u201cIf states have said, \u2018We are going to protect the unborn and we\u2019re going to protect every life from the moment of conception,\u2019 we\u2019re putting practices and policies in place so that other states and other organizations can\u2019t attack that. They can\u2019t do things like they\u2019re doing with mailing in mail-order drugs.\u201d The DOJ told Newsweek<\/a> the comments \u201chave been mischaracterized\u201d and need to be understood \u201cwith respect to mail order abortion drugs, not a broader expansion of federal control over states.\u201d Which is not exactly a denial, and is pretty damn chilling for anyone who believes in reproductive freedom.<\/p>\n

Of course, Dobbs<\/em><\/a> is the 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade<\/em> and undid 50 years of reproductive freedom. And Blanche\u2019s reported commitment to anti-abortion groups \u2014 that he\u2019d use DOJ to prevent medication abortion from being mailed across state lines \u2014 would make the federal government the instrument of anti-abortion states\u2019 preferences over pro-choice states\u2019 laws, because \u201cstates rights\u201d are only important if it\u2019s in service to conservative talking points. Collins, who calls herself pro-choice, voted to confirm Justices Kavanaugh<\/a>, Gorsuch, and Barrett to the Supreme Court, paving the way for the end of Roe<\/em>, and her post-Dobbs<\/em> response was largely to complain that they misled her in their confirmation hearings<\/a>, a posture that attempted to avoid accountability for her own votes while generating sympathetic headlines. She is not exactly a profile in courage on reproductive rights. But apparently there\u2019s a limit to how much she\u2019ll swallow, and Blanche promising anti-abortion groups a de facto national abortion ban behind closed doors was apparently it. Or at least that\u2019s what she\u2019d like voters in Maine to believe heading into her re-election campaign.<\/a><\/p>\n

Blanche only needs 50 GOP votes, so Collins\u2019s pro-choice stand won\u2019t cost him. But it does make the math ever tighter. <\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> The Trump Slush Fund Is Dead. Long Live The Trump Slush Fund.<\/a>
Trump: I\u2019ll Pull Blanche\u2019s Nomination And Resubmit After Cornyn And Tillis Are Gone. Cornyn: Cool, Roll The Dice.<\/a>
Blanche Pantsed By Trump Rants<\/a>
Todd Blanche\u2019s Confirmation Vote Gets Postponed Because He Just Won\u2019t Put His Promises In Writing<\/a>
Former DOJ Prosecutors To Senate: Blanche Took The Same Oath We Did. But He Didn\u2019t Keep It.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Todd Blanche Loses Susan Collins\u2019s Vote. Blame His Secret Promises To Anti-Abortion Groups.<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Susan Collins has made her decision. The Maine Republican announced Tuesday<\/a> that she will vote against Todd Blanche\u2019s confirmation as Attorney General, citing a list of concerns that reads like a greatest hits of everything we\u2019ve been covering since the nomination dropped<\/a>: the IRS audit immunity, the $1.8 billion slush fund<\/a>, the DOJ\u2019s attempt to charge senators over constitutionally protected political speech, the 1,200+ former DOJ employees who opposed his nomination<\/a>. And one thing we haven\u2019t covered yet: what Blanche has apparently been telling anti-abortion groups behind closed doors.<\/p>\n

According to The Hill<\/a>, Blanche promised an anti-abortion organization that he would work to make Dobbs<\/em> \u201cpermanent\u201d if confirmed to the AG role. He reportedly said he\u2019d seek to prohibit the mailing of abortion medication to women nationwide, an interpretation of the Comstock Act that would further limit reproductive choices across the country without Congress passing a single law. In his own words, \u201cIf states have said, \u2018We are going to protect the unborn and we\u2019re going to protect every life from the moment of conception,\u2019 we\u2019re putting practices and policies in place so that other states and other organizations can\u2019t attack that. They can\u2019t do things like they\u2019re doing with mailing in mail-order drugs.\u201d The DOJ told Newsweek<\/a> the comments \u201chave been mischaracterized\u201d and need to be understood \u201cwith respect to mail order abortion drugs, not a broader expansion of federal control over states.\u201d Which is not exactly a denial, and is pretty damn chilling for anyone who believes in reproductive freedom.<\/p>\n

Of course, Dobbs<\/em><\/a> is the 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade<\/em> and undid 50 years of reproductive freedom. And Blanche\u2019s reported commitment to anti-abortion groups \u2014 that he\u2019d use DOJ to prevent medication abortion from being mailed across state lines \u2014 would make the federal government the instrument of anti-abortion states\u2019 preferences over pro-choice states\u2019 laws, because \u201cstates rights\u201d are only important if it\u2019s in service to conservative talking points. Collins, who calls herself pro-choice, voted to confirm Justices Kavanaugh<\/a>, Gorsuch, and Barrett to the Supreme Court, paving the way for the end of Roe<\/em>, and her post-Dobbs<\/em> response was largely to complain that they misled her in their confirmation hearings<\/a>, a posture that attempted to avoid accountability for her own votes while generating sympathetic headlines. She is not exactly a profile in courage on reproductive rights. But apparently there\u2019s a limit to how much she\u2019ll swallow, and Blanche promising anti-abortion groups a de facto national abortion ban behind closed doors was apparently it. Or at least that\u2019s what she\u2019d like voters in Maine to believe heading into her re-election campaign.<\/a><\/p>\n

Blanche only needs 50 GOP votes, so Collins\u2019s pro-choice stand won\u2019t cost him. But it does make the math ever tighter. <\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> The Trump Slush Fund Is Dead. Long Live The Trump Slush Fund.<\/a>
Trump: I\u2019ll Pull Blanche\u2019s Nomination And Resubmit After Cornyn And Tillis Are Gone. Cornyn: Cool, Roll The Dice.<\/a>
Blanche Pantsed By Trump Rants<\/a>
Todd Blanche\u2019s Confirmation Vote Gets Postponed Because He Just Won\u2019t Put His Promises In Writing<\/a>
Former DOJ Prosecutors To Senate: Blanche Took The Same Oath We Did. But He Didn\u2019t Keep It.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Susan Collins has made her decision. The Maine Republican announced Tuesday that she will vote against Todd Blanche\u2019s confirmation as Attorney General, citing a list of concerns that reads like a greatest hits of everything we\u2019ve been covering since the nomination dropped: the IRS audit immunity, the $1.8 billion slush fund, the DOJ\u2019s attempt to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":159549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-utZEma.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}