The Unlikely GOP Senator Smack Dab In the Middle Of The SCOTUS Tug Of War
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/chuck-grassley-is-the-linchpin
Earlier in the morning, on their first full day back in session since the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Senate Republicans had announced that the Judiciary Committee would not even hold hearings on any nominee picked by President Barack Obama to succeed Scalia.
Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, had managed to avoid the press so far that day. Now, as he peered down the hall, he caught a glimpse of cameras and reporters staking him out. They had anticipated that Grassley might try to sneak out the back way and were waiting for him....
The 82-year-old Iowa farmer known for his typo-riddled tweets, homespun style, annual 99-county tours of Iowa, and a decades-long career in Washington has little experience in being the focal point of a Capitol Hill political showdown in the national spotlight, but here he is thrust into history over the future of the Supreme Court.
Grassley doesn't fit the profile of conservative flame-thrower. While no one questions his conservative credentials -- he's led efforts to stop Obamacare when he was ranking member of the Finance Committee and has been at the center of the Senate investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's email server -- Grassley's approach to political friction has always appeared measured. Before the final call was made not to hold hearings on a justice, Grassley initially told Iowa reporters that he had not ruled out moving through the process and would wait for Obama to reveal a nominee.
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