Grassley: New Supreme Court justice could join court in April

DES MOINES - Sen. Chuck Grassley expects it will be April before a ninth Supreme Court justice is sworn in - longer if Senate Democrats choose to filibuster President Donald Trump's nomination.

The president said on social media he plans to announce next week his choice to fill the seat left vacant since Justice Antonin Scalia died nearly a year ago.

Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, refused to hold confirmation hearings on President Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, in order to let the voters indicate through the November 2016 election what sort of justice they wanted to see on the nation's highest court.

Grassley was visiting the Iowa House Wednesday, where his grandson, Rep. Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, chairs the Appropriations Committee, just as the elder Grassley did 44 years ago.

On average, the Senate has taken 30 to 40 days after a nomination for members to vet the nominee before Judiciary Committee hearings begin. Grassley expects the nominee to spend at least one 'long day” in front of the committee. At least another day would be devoted to opponents of the nominee.

The question is whether Senate minority Democrats will filibuster the confirmation. Grassley expects them to extend the same courtesy to Trump as Republican showed Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama when they made court appointments early in their terms. He noted that at the White House meeting with Trump, the Democrats, Sens. Chuck Schumer and Diane Feinstein, were the only people there who have filibustered judicial nominations.

Trump gave no indication of who he will nominate, Grassley said, but thinks it will be one of the appeals court judges most mentioned - William Pryor, Neil Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman.

Although he doesn't know them, Grassley said they 'tend to Scalia,” which pleases him.

'I don't know how close they are to Scalia because you can't duplicate him,” he said. However, he added, those potential nominees seem to have been vetted and earned the approval of groups whose judicial philosophy he agrees with, such as the Federalist Society.

Grassley was back in Iowa for town hall meetings, rather than attending a congressional GOP retreat in Philadelphia.

'I've been to those before,” he said.

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