Key Republican senator says she got Trump to add names to his Supreme Court shortlist, and that a candidate who will overturn Roe 'will not be acceptable'

Screenshot via ABC Twitter

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican, has supported abortion rights for years.

• Sen. Susan Collins said Sunday she would not support President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee if they said they would overturn Roe v. Wade.
• Collins said a nominee who would overturn the Constitutional right to abortion "will not be acceptable" and she would see the move as following "an activist agenda".
• She also said she got the president to add names to his list of 25 potential nominees.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said Sunday she would not support President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee if they said they would overturn Roe v. Wade.

Collins, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, told host Martha Raddatz on ABC's "This Week" that the 1973 decision establishing basic grounds for American women's abortion access should be off-limits for Trump's pick.

"A candidate for this important position who would overturn Roe v. Wade would not be acceptable to me, because that would indicate an activist agenda that I don't want to see a judge have," Collins said. "That would indicate to me a failure to respect precedent."

Trump told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo he "probably" wouldn't ask a nominee how they would vote on Roe v. Wade, which Collins said he also told her in a meeting last week with other key senators.

"[Trump] did tell me that he would not be asking that question," Collins said Sunday. "And indeed it would be inappropriate to ask a judge nominee on how they are going to vote in a future case."

Justice Anthony Kennedy announced last week he would be retiring at the end of July. Kennedy was considered a centrist who was a swing vote in a number of controversial cases, including two reaffirming the right to abortion.

Trump compiled a shortlist of 25 potential nominees, and he confirmed last week his next pick would come from it.

Collins said she suggested he add some names, and that the White House counsel told her some names have been added.

"The president should not feel bound by that list," she said, "and instead should seek out recommendations to make sure he gets the best possible person."

Collins said she objected to some of the picks on the list, who have "demonstrated a disrespect for the vital principle of stare decisis," the legal term for precedent.

Watch some of Collins' comments below: