By Mitch McAndrew | [email protected]
For Democrats both nationwide and in Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has become the face of inaction.
Iowa’s beloved senator, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, refuses to hold hearings on the Supreme Court nominations, and he is facing backlash on the state and national level as a result.
With President Obama looking toward Iowa for his next nominee and a Democrat who has previously been elected statewide running for Grassley’s seat, political experts say the criticism on Grassley’s position could make his seat more competitive this fall.
Last week, Obama threw Grassley a political curve ball when he began considering Judge Jane Kelly as a nominee. Kelly, a judge in the 8th District Court of Appeals, has received praise from Grassley in the past.
“President Obama is clearly trying to signal to him that he wants Grassley to work with him,” said Kimi King, a political-science professor at the University of North Texas who has researched judicial decision-making. “It also puts political pressure on Grassley, and that’s a strategic choice.”
With Obama preparing to announce his nomination soon, Grassley is facing significant scrutiny on the issue, even in his home state, where his approval ratings have been as high as 75 percent in the past.
“What we’ve seen from Chuck Grassley over the last three weeks is an outright refusal to do his job,” said Josh Levitt, the press secretary for the Iowa Democratic Party.
On March 4, former Iowa Lt. Gov. Patty Judge became the latest addition to the building pressure against Grassley when she officially announced her bid for his Senate seat.
“Instead of working on behalf of Iowans, he’s working for his friends in Washington to block progress and promote obstructionism,” Judge said on March 4.
Sam Roeker, a Democratic consultant working with Judge’s campaign, said her three statewide election victories and decades of experience serving as state senator, Iowa secretary of Agriculture, and lieutenant governor give her an impressive résumé, as well as a sharp contrast to Grassley.
“She has always gotten to work on our behalf,” Roeker said. “That’s a contrast to Sen. Grassley, who’s following orders from the Republican Party instead of doing his job.”
Judge’s announcement makes her the fourth Democrat to enter the Senate race. Currently, she faces state Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, former state Sen. Tom Fiegen, D-Clarence, and former Rep. Bob Krause.
Levitt, who is excited about what he calls a “great group of Democrats” running for Senate, attributes the competitive primary to growing dissatisfaction with Grassley.
“There’s a lot of people who are very fed up with this,” he said. “They see an elected leader just refusing to do what he’s elected to do.”
Grassley’s refusal to hold hearings or “even entertain the idea” of filling the vacancy provided the final push for Judge to run, Roeker said.
The former registered nurse and farmer was quick to make Grassley’s stance a centerpiece of her campaign, touting herself as “the Judge Chuck Grassley can’t ignore” in a March 4 tweet.
“Iowans elected Grassley to do a job, and he’s not doing it,” Roeker said. “Because he’s so out of touch with Iowans on this issue, many people encouraged Patty to consider challenging him.”
For other Iowa Democrats, Grassley’s move is not only against Iowans’ values but also unheard of.
“Before the president has even nominated someone to serve on the Supreme Court, Sen. Grassley is already saying that he is not going to call for any hearings,” Levitt said. “That is completely unprecedented.”
Of course, the GOP sees things differently.
State party leaders consider the allegations of obstructionism leveled at Grassley to be nothing more than Democrats playing politics.
“There are very limited opportunities within the Democratic Party to advance up the food chain, and so [Democrats] are attempting to do that,” said Cody Hoefert, co-head of the Republican Party of Iowa.
John Maxwell, Grassley’s longtime campaign strategist and consultant, said he expects Grassley’s position to “let the voters have a say” in the nomination will prove popular in Iowa, citing Republican success in the 2014 elections.
“The voters made it perfectly clear with the GOP landslide in 2014 they didn’t want a Congress that would rubber-stamp the Obama agenda,” he said.
Hoefert also argues that by refusing to hold hearings for any potential Obama Supreme Court nominee, Grassley is merely following precedent.
“You need to look no further than Vice President Joe Biden when he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee,” Hoefert said.
Hoefert is referring to a 1992 statement from Biden that similarly urges the Judiciary Committee to consider not holding hearings for George H.W. Bush’s court nominee “until after the political campaign season is over.”
Ultimately, Biden never got a chance to block any Supreme Court nominations. Besides, political experts say, it’s different this year.
“Typically, Supreme Court nominations are not high-profile in any given election year,” King said. “As we all know, however, this is not a typical election year.”
King also said that Republicans and Democrats being critical of nominations during election years is no new phenomenon but declining to hold hearings is.
“Every party, Republican or Democrat, has always been critical of nominations during election years,” she said. “Have they ever out and out flatly refused to even hold hearings? No.”
With immigration, affirmative-action, abortion, unions, and all of the criminal-procedure cases set to go before the court this year, there are many strategic question marks as a result of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, King said.
But how much will Grassley’s role in replacing Scalia actually affect his re-election in the fall? Is he as vulnerable as Democrats perceive him to be?
According to a March 2 poll from Public Policy Polling, Iowans from both parties take issue with Senate Republicans’ approach to filling the court vacancy.
The poll shows that 56 percent of Iowans think the empty seat should be filled by the end of the year, and 66 percent believe the Senate should wait to see who is nominated before deciding whether or not to confirm that person.
Still, despite their disagreement with Senate Republicans’ methods, Grassley still enjoys approval ratings of 47 percent among Iowans, though down 7 points from last year.
The poll interviewed 574 registered voters in Iowa with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
If these numbers are any indication, Grassley is Iowa’s most popular politician despite anger over the Supreme Court nominations, and he’ll remain difficult to beat.
Hoefert said that Grassley’s unrivaled constituency services have garnered his devout following in the Hawkeye State.
“Iowans love Sen. Grassley because he’s one of them,” Hoefert said.