Grassley says he’s undecided on hearings for Obama court nominee

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican head of the Senate panel that weighs U.S. Supreme Court nominations, said in a radio interview Tuesday that he would wait until President Barack Obama names his pick to fill the vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia's death before deciding whether to hold confirmation hearings.

'I would wait until the nominee is made before I would make any decisions' about confirmation hearings, Grassley, chairman if the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in an interview aired on Radio Iowa. 'In other words, take it a step at a time.'

Even as he said that, though, he repeated his earlier stance that the next president should make the nomination — not Obama, who's in the last year of his presidency.

'This is a very serious position to fill and it should be ... debated during the campaign and filled by either Hillary Clinton, Sen. (Bernie) Sanders or whoever's nominated by the Republicans,' Grassley said.

Scalia, 79, was found dead Saturday at a Texas hunting resort.

Leading Republicans threatened not to act on any nominee for the vacancy put forward by the Democratic president. Obama's nominee to replace the conservative justice could alter the court's balance of power.

Republicans control the Senate, which the Constitution assigns responsibility for confirming a president's nomination to the court.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, the judiciary committee's top Democrat, prodded Republicans to act on whomever Obama nominates for a lifetime appointment to the court.

'The advice and consent role enshrined in our Constitution was not designed to allow a blanket prohibition of any potential nominee, but that is exactly where the Republican majority leader is trying to take us,' Leahy wrote in an opinion piece in USA Today, referring to Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

McConnell said on Saturday the vacancy should not be filled until Obama's successor takes office in January, so voters can have a say on the selection when they cast ballots in the Nov. 8 presidential election.

Grassley issued a statement Saturday agreeing.

'Given the huge divide in the country, and the fact that this President, above all others, has made no bones about his goal to use the courts to circumvent Congress and push through his own agenda, it only makes sense that we defer to the American people, who will elect a new president to select the next Supreme Court Justice,' Grassley said in his statement Saturday.

The White House said it would name a nominee sometime after the Senate returns Feb. 22 from recess.

A coalition calling itself Why Courts Matter said it would confront Grassley over the issue at several town hall meetings he has scheduled for today.