Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) pushed back at criticisms of the ongoing GOP SCOTUS nominee blockade he is helping to lead by arguing that “[t]he sky didn’t fall” in past when the court was down a justice.
“So, despite hyperbolic rhetoric, the court will continue to function. And even cases that split evenly will likely be few and far between,” Grassley wrote in an op-ed in the Des Moines Register published Sunday.
The op-ed was a rebuttal to an editorial in the local paper that accused Grassley of creating a “stalemate on the Supreme Court” and labeled “un-American” his refusal to host a hearing for President Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland.
Grassley kicked off his defense of his refusal to grant Garland a hearing by pointing to times in history when the Supreme Court had a varying number of justices.
“Six. Seven. Nine. Ten. Seven. Nine,” Grassley wrote. “These numbers reveal the absurdity of the argument that somehow the federal judiciary is debilitated without a ninth Supreme Court justice for a brief period of time.”
Grassley went on to suggest that it would be more harmful for the Senate to consider Obama’s nominee in an election year than it would be to have a vacancy on the court until after the election. He pointed to comments made by Justices Samuel Alito and Stephen Breyer that the Court would be able to manage with eight members.
He said the current situation provides Americans with “unique opportunity to engage in a serious discussion about the meaning of our Constitution and the way justices read it.” Grassley also said that the Republicans’ current blockade “will help safeguard the integrity of the court.”
“And, it’s entirely American,” he said.
