Grassley Says Trump’s ‘Encouraging’ SCOTUS Picks Will Help ‘Settle’ Doubts

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) praised Donald Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees on Thursday, saying the list would help assuage the fears of Republicans who are wary of the candidate’s conservative credentials.

The 11 names on the list, which features some of the most prominent conservative justices in the country, were “pretty encouraging,” Grassley told Bloomberg Politics.

“If anybody had any doubts—and I think a lot of people do have doubts—this will help settle that,” he continued.

Despite the positive reception from conservative lawmakers, Trump has already hinted that he may not pick one of the judges named on the list if he wins the presidency.

“I thought what I would do is put this forward and this would be the list that I would either choose from or pick people very close in terms of the spirit and the meaning of what they represent,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday night.

“We’re either going to choose from this list or people very close to it,” he said. “At a minimum, we will keep people from this general realm.”

Asked if he was concerned that Trump may choose someone who wasn’t featured on the list, Grassley told Bloomberg that he had “heard a lot of misstatements and corrections by Trump” but had “never heard him accused of being a liar.”

As judiciary chairman, Grassley has led the charge against holding hearings for President Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy, Merrick Garland. Despite previous praise for Garland’s “acumen” and “honesty,” Grassley now maintains that the next president should fill the vacant Supreme Court seat.