Senator Chuck Grassley.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley talked by phone last night with Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama’s pick to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Grassley says he and Garland agreed to meet for breakfast in the next week or two for what Grassley says is a courtesy call. “I’d like to see him and I think he is a very decent person,” Grassley says. “I think it’ll be a good conversation.”
Grassley chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and says he will not call a hearing for Garland as Grassley believes the next president should pick a replacement for Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in February.
Garland is the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Grassley knows, Garland plans to argue his case during the breakfast meeting.
“That’s his privilege and I can state my position as well,” Grassley says. “I think I made it very clear that that’s what I’m going to do, is tell him what the situation is and why we aren’t moving forward and he’s going to tell me why we should, and that’s his job. I think he’s going to tell me a lot about him and I’m gonna’ listen.”
A specific date for the Grassley-Garland meeting hasn’t yet been set.