Collins’ Misleading Use of Court Statistic

In announcing she would vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Sen. Susan Collins said Judges Kavanaugh and Merrick Garland “voted the same way in 93 percent of cases they heard together” on the federal appeals court in the District of Columbia. This is evidence, she said, that Kavanaugh is “more of a centrist” than his critics say.  

But a high rate of unanimity is not unusual among appellate court judges or indicative of how one might rule on Kavanaugh and his potential impact on the high court.