Those of us who are politically engaged hold our elected officials to a high standard. When they fail to live up to their promises we fire back at them, organizing protests, making phone calls, and even threatening to primary them out of elected office. And rightly so.
But when we have one of our own who is fighting for our principles against enormous pressure and provocation, we must stand up and rally with him. Otherwise, we shouldn’t expect our congressmen and senators to offer themselves up as sacrificial punching bags for the left.
Simply put, we cannot be all stick and no carrot.
It’s time to show our support for Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who continues to fend off attacks from the left.
The chairman is getting brutalized for standing on principle and maintaining that the American voter should have a say in the next Supreme Court nominee.
Yesterday, at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Grassley continued to dig in his noble heels.
“Why all this outrage about a hearing? Why the demands for a hearing that everyone knows would never result in a confirmation?” Grassley asked at his committee’s first meeting to discuss the vacancy created by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death last month. “It’s because the other side is committed to using this process to score as many political points as possible. That’s it. Plain and simple.”
“It’s really not about him or any one of us,” bemoaned the committee’s ranking member, Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT.) “It’s about the Constitution.”
Roll Call reports that earlier in the day a discussion about SCOTUS took place on the Senate floor. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said of Grassley, “Here’s a chairman who’s worked to give voices to the voiceless. He’s also got a passion for letting Iowans and the American people be heard. No wonder he’s working so hard now to give the people a voice in the direction of the Supreme Court.”
The Senate’s single biggest obstructor in the history of the institution, Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), responded, “Grassley’s problem isn’t that he wants to give the American people a chance to decide this issue. His problem is that he doesn’t like the decision they’ve already made.”
President Obama has promised that his pick for SCOTUS will be someone with “impeccable legal standards.”
Of course.
As this process continues, take some time to send an email or make a phone call and thank Grassley for standing on principle.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member