Discussion for article #246246
Grassley will soon fold under orders from McTurtle. They are making this up as they go but the political winds now favor at least reviewing Obama’s 1st candidate.
Just watch, they will drag this out as long as they can and, if they think they have a strong case, vote down this candidate so late in the process (the timing of the election in November) that even if a 2nd candidate is put up, they will claim there isn’t enough time to properly vet that candidate before said election.
Not sure though they can get away with this solely because of the great amount of time left between say Obama putting forth a candidate by March 1 and adding even 90 days for vetting and debate. That’s far longer than it usually takes and puts us at roughly June 1. Still 5+ months to go for Democrats to eat them alive!
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Agree…Grassley will shortly mouth exactly the same talking point as Murkowski. He is seeking another term and in Iowa, that means he has to push as far right as he can to avoid getting savaged by the idiocy that is Iowa’s evangelical zealotry. The GOP is being cowed into submission by the far right. They dare not stray. It seems clear that Obama may propose a candidate but at the very most, they will simply vote that candidate down. Equally likely…it never makes it out of committee in the Senate.
Besides as my Up-for-relection Senator here in PA, Pat Toomey says, “Hey…not having a seat filled on the Supreme Court for over a year? No big deal!” (unless we’re in control.)
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Grassley, you don’t have no other choice but to prepare for nomination hearings for replacing a deceased supreme court justice…so shut up with your shoot crap threats!
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A binder full of candidates for SCOTUS nomination. I can’t accept that the president is going to let Grassley or McConnell put the kibosh on bringing a nominee after he’s done all this work. The Man is serious.
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His “seriousness” trait is what makes President Obama the greatest POTUS EVER!
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I trust Obama to know how and when to announce the nominee—and I trust him to nominate the right person, and to get that person confirmed.
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Must be disconcerting for this quiet, nose-in-the-books dedicated civil servant to be the focus of so much attention.
Frankly, there is a better candidate from Iowa than Jane Kelly though she would be a good pick. Mark Cady, the chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court, was appointed by Republican Gov. Terry Branstad after a number of years on the district court. Cady is the author of the 2009 unanimous Varnum decision that made Iowa the third state in the nation to allow gays and lesbians to marry. His view of how the Constitution should be read is clearly within Obama’s ballpark and Cady has a record of leading Iowa’s courts to decisions that while controversial have stood the test of time. Grassley would be placed in the untenable decision of denying a hearing and refusing to vote for a figure highly respected in Iowa except by the far right wing, which is tearing the Iowa Republican Party apart right now. And, if Grassley did that, he might actually create a major storm of controversy within the state that could hurt him in his re-election campaign. Doubt it will happen because of the emphasis on prior Senate confirmation, but it would be fun to watch.
Grassley seriously said they won’t consider if it’s procedurally appropriate to nominate a justice until they see who is up for nomination.
This ain’t Constitutional, it’s purely political.