Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid accused Sen. Chuck Grassley of wanting to “change the Constitution,” in the latest iteration of his attack on the Iowa Republican’s determination to block President Obama’s eventual Supreme Court nominee.
“The chairman of the Judiciary Committee is suggesting we re-evaluate the Founding Fathers’ work?” Reid asked on the Senate floor. “Re-evaluate the Constitution of the United States? Change the Constitution of the United States?”
The Nevada Democrat’s floor speech was the latest in a series of attacks that Senate Democrats have launched on Grassley, who has joined Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R.-Ky., in blocking Obama’s attempt to replace late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. As the senators litigate the judicial fight, there are signs Democrats hope the issue could weaken the typically invulnerable Grassley as he heads into a re-election campaign.
Reid suggested that Grassley was going “down a very dark path” by suggesting any change to the Constitution. “He needs to do his job,” Reid said. “It’s that easy. No changes to the Constitution required.”
The Democratic leader based those statements on Grassley’s speech last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference, in which he called for “a national debate on the Supreme Court and how it fits in with our constitutional system of government.”
But Grassley didn’t propose any constitutional amendments. “This year’s presidential election must be a debate about the role of the judiciary in our system of government,” he said. “Do we want justices who decide cases based upon empathy and their own moral compass? That happens to be the Obama standard. Or do we want justices who decide cases based on the Constitution and the law? That’s the approach that Justice Scalia renewed with vigor.”
Reid’s focus on Grassley partly reflects an attempt to pick off what has been regarded as a safe Republican seat. Grassley has long been Iowa’s most popular politician, as his approval rating sits at 57 percent, according to a Des Moines Register survey conducted after the Supreme Court debate began. But Obama won Iowa in the last two presidential elections. Reid’s floor speech Monday came just after he met with former Iowa Lt. Gov. Patty Judge, whom Democrats have recruited to challenge Grassley.
There are signs that Grassley is keeping an eye on the possibility of a competitive Senate challenge. He ended his brief speech with a plea for conservative voters to defend Senate Republicans in 2016. “This is a critical moment in history for defending the U.S. Constitution,” he said. “I’m counting on you, each of you, not to sit it out.”
