With the hearings for President Barack Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee looming, Senate Republican leaders have tapped tried-and-true conservative Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., as the new ranking member on the Judiciary Committee — but only for two years.
In a deal aimed at preserving the Senate’s long-used seniority system, Sessions will step aside in 2011 for Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who some conservatives say may not be tough enough on the liberal views of some judicial nominees.
Republicans have been debating who should replace Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who was the panel’s ranking member but switched to the Democratic Party last week.
Grassley is ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee but must give up that spot next year. Grassley is also the most senior member on the judiciary panel thanks to Specter’s defection. Under the seniority system, he is next in line for the job of ranking member.
But the more conservative members of the party were pushing to make Sessions’ placement permanent and prevent Grassley from ever getting the top spot on Judiciary, fearing that he would not be tough enough, or conservative enough, when questioning federal court nominees.
Grassley is generally conservative, but some of his moves lately have angered the far right of the party, most recently his refusal to take sides on a proposed state constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage. Grassley may face a Republican primary opponent in his state, where conservatives there accuse him of drifting to the left.
“Grassley is not up to the job,” one top GOP aide lamented Monday, noting that Sessions holds a law degree while Grassley does not.
But Republicans respect Grassley for his work on Finance, where he pushed through President George W. Bush’s tax cuts and has been a watchdog for wasteful federal spending and Cabinet nominees with unpaid back taxes.
One close aide suggested the 75-year-old farmer might have decided to walk away from a campaign for a sixth term next year if he were passed over for the Judiciary job, leaving his seat open for potential Democratic takeover.
“For Republicans to disrespect the seniority system would have sent an incredibly bad signal to a lot of senators in terms of where they stood with the party — and not just conservatives like Grassley” said Dean Zerbe, a former top Grassley aide.
“Republican moderates would have really been rethinking what they wanted to do for the long term.”
Zerbe downplayed concerns that Grassley was not conservative enough for the job.
“If you are going to raise issues about a judge or a nominee, having someone who is seen as a fair player for years in both Democratic and Republican administrations is going to give him credibility that is just unmatched in the party,” he said.
