Hillary Clinton takes on nemesis Grassley on blocking SCOTUS appointment

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called out one of her longtime foes - Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley - in a rebuke Monday of a Senate GOP refusal to hold confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.

Clinton and other leading Democrats have been pouncing on the blockade by Republican leaders to schedule a hearing - or even meet face-to-face - with any Supreme Court nominee made by President Barack Obama.

But in her speech Monday at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Clinton went farther. First, the Democratic front-runner's remarks from the campaign trail gave more voice to a broad Democratic effort to shame Grassley into action. And second, she went beyond some Democratic leaders in embracing Garland, widely described as a centrist.

In her speech in Wisconsin, where voters decide Democratic and Republic primaries on April 5, Clinton cast the future of the Supreme Court as being at the center of the election debate - cautioning that any justices appointed by Donald Trump, should he be elected, would likely roll back workers' and abortion rights.

'What kind of justice would a President Trump appoint, or for that matter what kind of attorney general?” she asked, noting the Republican front-runner wants a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country and the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.

Clinton called on Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to 'do his job” and convene a hearing for Garland, a moderate federal appeals judge who is Obama's nominee to fill the seat left open by the Feb. 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

Grassley and other Senate Republicans have said they will not hold a hearing or a vote on any Obama nominee in a presidential election year, contending that voters should have a say when they elect the next president.

Grassley, a six-term GOP senator up for election himself this year, has tangled with Clinton over the investigation into her use of a private email account while secretary of state.

And he has set his sights on Clinton aide Huma Abedin, with documents showing she was given permission to earn outside income as a private consultant at the same time she was a government employee at Clinton's Secretary of State's office.

Knowing Clinton's missive against him was coming, Grassley dismissed it in a statement issued Monday before her speech. He said Clinton wants to distract voters from the investigations.

'This is simply a blatant attempt by Secretary Clinton to politicize the Supreme Court and to change the conversation,” said Grassley, who heads the committee that must hold hearings on any Supreme Court nominee.

In an interview later with POLITICO, the senator said he would not relent.

'I want to spend my time on doing things we're going to accomplish and you know ahead of time that this isn't going to be approved,” Grassley said, referring to Garland. 'So spend your time on things that … we can do in a bipartisan way instead of in a partisan way.”

The Los Angeles Times reported this week that an FBI investigation into the email server Clinton used as secretary of state was in its final stages. Clinton has said she did nothing wrong and would be vindicated.

On Monday, Garland traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with Democratic Sens. Ben Cardin of Maryland and Joe Donnelly of Indiana. His first visit with a Republican, Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois, is scheduled for Tuesday.

Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to Grassley on Monday and proposed hearings on Garland in April, with votes by May 25.

But Senate Majority Leaders Mitch McConnell has refused to meet with Garland. But Grassley has said he might meet with Garland sometime after the Senate returns from its Easter break.

In her remarks, Clinton did not go so far as to say she would renominate Garland if the Senate does not act and if she were to be elected.

Democratic rival Bernie Sanders has also called on Grassley to hold hearings on Garland, but has said if he were president he wouldn't have nominated Garland.