Grassley: ‘If I can meet with a dictator,’ I can meet SCOTUS nominee
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) suggested Thursday that if he is willing to sit down with a foreign dictator, he should have no problem meeting with a U.S. Supreme Court nominee.
“If I can meet with a dictator in Uganda, I can surely meet with a decent person in America,” Grassley told CNN. “I want to make it clear that the message we told him on the phone yesterday, I will tell him face-to-face.”
{mosads}While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and other Republicans have refused any in-person meeting Judge Merrick Garland, Grassley is one of approximately 10 senators who have suggested they would be willing to meet with the nominee.
A day earlier, the White House said the Iowa Republican would be meeting with Garland after the Senate returns from its two-week recess in April.
Grassley’s office, however, quickly clarified that the senator hadn’t explicitly agreed to meet but would talk to Garland again next month about a potential meeting. Grassley, who is up for reelection in November, added Thursday that it would be “pretty hard to say no” to a meeting.
Grassley spoke with Garland over the phone on Wednesday.
According to a summary of the call from his office, “Grassley congratulated Judge Garland and reiterated the position of the Senate majority, that it will give the American people a voice and an opportunity this year to debate the role of the Supreme Court in our system of government.”
Democrats and outside groups have made Grassley a prime target as they try to pressure Republicans into allowing Garland to get a hearing and a vote. The Iowa Republican, however, has shown no sign that he is rethinking his decision to block Garland from getting a hearing.
