Senator Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) criticized Democrats on Monday over previous “doomsday predictions” on Republican nominees to the Supreme Court.
Grassley made his remarks during the opening of confirmation hearings for President Trump’s nominee to the court, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Democrats have attempted to cast Barrett’s nomination as a setback for abortion rights as well as a step towards eliminating the Affordable Care Act.
“Democrats and their allies shouldn’t claim to know how any judge would rule in any particular case,” Grassley said. “The Left slammed [Justice John Paul] Stevens for his consistent opposition to women’s rights; they called [Justice] Anthony Kennedy sexist and a disaster for women; they said [Justice] David Souter would quote, ‘end freedom of women in this country.’ Ultimately, the Left praised these justices that they [previously] attacked.”
Grassley concluded, “their doomsday predictions failed to pan out.”
Democratic senators have vowed to oppose Barrett’s confirmation. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), as well as Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) and Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) have stated that they would not meet with Barrett during the confirmation process.
Schumer said in September that he would not meet with Barret “because I believe, first, that the whole process has been illegitimate, and, second, because she has already stated that she is for overturning the [Affordable Care Act].”
On Sunday, Schumer predicted that Barrett would join the court’s conservative justices to overturn Roe v. Wade if confirmed.
“Justice Barrett’s record and previous public statements clearly indicate that she would vote to strike down the ACA and overturn Roe,” Schumer said, referring the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion case. “Nothing in her opening statement allays that concern.”