Republican incumbent Sen. Chuck Grassley has been both chastised and lauded nationally for leading the Republican blockade of President Obama’s nomination for the vacant seat on the Supreme Court. Grassley has refused to hold hearings on Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland to the high court until after the upcoming elections. Grassley argues that the American people deserve to choose who will decide who fills that vacant seat.
But the American people have chosen that individual. Obama was sworn in for a second term on Jan. 20, 2013, and his term does not end until Jan. 20, 2017.
The blockade that Grassley has so strongly defended is nearly unprecedented in American history. Garland has been sitting on his nomination unconfirmed for nearly 90 days. That is nearly three months in which the Supreme Court has been caught in the left-right dichotomy, slowing down the already-slow moving mechanism the court works in.
Grassley’s slogan for his campaign is “Grassley Works,” which seems to be in absolute contention with how he has conducted himself in office in the preceding year.
Democracy, as it functions in the United States, can be a frustrating mechanism. But the fact remains: It must function. When elected officials toss the proverbial monkey wrench in the cogs of the centuries-old machine out of stubborn, party-serving belligerence, they cease to act in the interest of the essential function of that machine: democracy.
This is why The Daily Iowan Editorial Board feels compelled to endorse Democratic nominee Patty Judge for the U.S. Senate in the upcoming Nov. 8 election.
Judge served as lieutenant governor of Iowa from 2007 to 2011 and is considered the contender with the greatest chance of dislodging Grassley from his long tenure in office. Grassley has not lost a senatorial election since taking office in 1981.
He is the beneficiary of an unwavering endorsement from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Through this, Grassley has essentially condoned not only the plethora of awful things Trump has said, including those now infamous insinuations of sexual assault. Judge, however, has been a strong advocate for women’s health care and LGBTQ rights, and she believes in reform concerning mandatory minimum sentencing for nonviolent criminal offenders.
In Judge’s victory speech upon securing the Democratic nomination for the position, she said, “I am the judge that Chuck Grassley cannot ignore.” We hope that Iowans, whether seated right or left along the political spectrum, understand the implications of Grassley’s stubborn belligerence. Because when people refuse to work, what sense is there in keeping them around?
