Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, set off a scandal recently when he promised to do his job.
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee suggested in a Thursday interview with Hugh Hewitt that if any Supreme Court justices are thinking of retirement, they should get on with it already.
“I just hope that if there is going to be a nominee, I hope it’s now or within two or three weeks, because we’ve got to get this done before the election,“ Grassley said. “So my message to any one of the nine Supreme Court justices, if you’re thinking about quitting this year, do it yesterday.”
Far from a coded-message, the sentiment was simple: Any justices eager for a conservative or moderate replacement should consider retiring while Republicans still have the majority. After election day, as Grassley hinted, the GOP might not be in a position to confirm Trump’s pick. Should ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., become chairperson, it would become almost impossible for a conservative nominee to get confirmed.
That much is obvious. And the mere act of pointing it out is not sinister. Note the use of the word “if.” If one of the justices really does want to give Trump the opportunity to appoint a replacement this year, then there’s a limited amount of time for announcing his or her retirement.
But of course, it led to predictable outrage, summed up best by a statement from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. “There is no principled stand,” Blumenthal told reporters. “They will use whatever rationale they find expedient. There’s no conviction or principle to this. There’s no method to the madness.”
Actually, there is a method. The president makes a nomination. The Senate votes on the nominee. Someone ends up on the Supreme Court. Blumenthal and his fellow Democrats know this just as well as any justice thinking about hanging up their robes. It’s not like the justices, insulated by our Constitution from executive branch influence, are listening to talk radio waiting for orders from Republicans.
It’s rumored that Justice Anthony Kennedy has been considering retirement and it’s clear that President Trump would love nothing more than to confirm another justice. That Grassley somewhat glibly suggested speeding up that process is no outrage.
