Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley made the following statement after a meeting with President Obama about the Supreme Court vacancy and other issues before the Senate, including the opioid epidemic that is devastating communities across the country, criminal justice reform and Puerto Rico.
“The American people deserve the right to be heard. It’s the fair and reasonable approach. They made their voices heard in 2014 when they signaled they wanted a departure from President Obama’s policies by revoking the Democrats’ Senate majority and expanding Republican ranks in the House of Representatives. Now, with the stakes as high as ever and the political season is underway, we should hear from them again.
“There’s a growing feeling of isolation among a lot of Americans who feel left out by political elites. Executive orders and liberal courts are trampling on religious liberty and property ownership, for example, and snubbing the rule of law and endangering the right to keep and bear arms. The executive branch is actively using the judicial branch of government to get around Congress and undermine the process of representative government
“A recent Gallup poll documents this frustration that I hear expressed at the grassroots of Iowa. In the six years since Obama has appointed two justices, the American people’s disapproval of the Supreme Court jumped from 28 percent disapproval in 2009 to 50 percent disapproval in 2015.
“Whether everybody in the meeting today wanted to admit it, we all know that considering a nomination in the middle of a heated presidential campaign is bad for the nominee, bad for the court, bad for the process, and ultimately bad for the nation. It’s time for the people to voice their opinion about the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system of government.”
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