Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Theresa Greenfield says the Senate should not have voted yesterday to confirm President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court.
“We should have waited for the next US Senate and president to be seated,” Greenfield said this morning.
Greenfield’s opponent, Republican Senator Joni Ernst, voted for Amy Coney Barrett. Ernst said Barrett will be a Supreme Court justice who interprets the law, rather than try to be a “super legislator.” Greenfield has accused Ernst of breaking a promise not to confirm a justice this close to an election.
“She’s been rushing through a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court,” Greenfield said.
Ernst said the situation now is different from when she made her previous statement, because Republicans held the majority in the Senate after the 2018 election and there’s a Republican president. Ernst has accused Greenfield of favoring the idea of adding
Theresa Greenfield.
more justices to the nation’s highest court.
“I don’t support packing the court,” Greenfield said. “I think that kind of conversation is divisive. It’s what people hate about Washington. They want that to end.”
Greenfield held a news conference early this morning in Des Moines, where she was asked about Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s plan to form a bipartisan commission that would recommend changes in the federal courts.
“Right now we’re focused on winning this election and certainly, if we win, I’d want to learn more about it,” Greenfield said, “but I’ve been really clear that I don’t support packing the courts and I just think that’s the wrong place to go.”
Greenfield and a couple of her campaign staffers are traveling by bus to stops in Marshalltown, Clear Lake, Rippey and Ames today.
“We’ve done over 350 events so far around the state,” Greenfield said, “and we’re going to keep traveling and keep earning every vote.”
Senator Grassley tweeted this photo with Senator Ernst at the airport.
Ernst will return to the campaign trail tonight, at President Trump’s rally in Omaha.