Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says the new Republican majority will carefully vet President Obama’s judicial appointments.
Grassley will oversee confirmation of nominated judges as the new chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He discounts predictions that fewer nominees will be confirmed now that Republicans are in the majority. By Grassley’s count, under Democratic control the Senate approved 240 candidates and only rejected two.
"I have no reason to believe that the future is any different,” Grassley says.
Democrats won the judges’ approval after changing the Senate’s filibuster rules to limit the ability of minority Republicans to block a vote.
With Republicans now in control, Grassley had the choice of three chairmanships. He says judiciary is a natural.
“I’ve been on judiciary,” Grassley says, “as long as I've been on any committee. As ranking member I've been in a leadership position for a couple Congresses now."
Grassley will be the first non-lawyer to chair the committee, a point which got Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Braley in trouble in the recent campaign. Grassley says he values the oversight role of the committee.