With the possible exception of Donald Trump, the Supreme Court vacancy is the biggest obsession of Capitol Hill these days.

That’s a bad thing for Senate Republicans.


The GOP’s refusal to hold hearings or vote on President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia has put the party on the defensive in a way that’s unlikely to change anytime soon, assuming top Republicans hold their ground. Democrats are more energized than at any time since they were swept out of power in 2014, hammering Republicans daily with the mantra “Do Your Job!”

And it will only get more heated once Obama makes his pick, putting a face on what’s been a semi-theoretical fight so far. Administration officials say a decision could come as early as next week, before Obama heads to Cuba for a historic visit, though there’s no firm deadline.

For Democrats, the Supreme Court fight is “a godsend,” asserted one senior Democratic aide. Senate Democrats aren’t talking about the Iran nuclear deal they greenlighted, or the controversial trade agreement they authorized the president to negotiate. The challenges facing the U.S. economy or growing budget deficit? Off the radar.

For Senate Democrats at this moment, it’s all about the Supreme Court vacancy — and why Republicans claim they should be able to keep open the seat that Scalia once held, for at least another year.

“The Republican Committee members met behind closed doors to unilaterally decide that this committee — and the Senate as a whole — will simply refuse to consider a Supreme Court nominee this year,” the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), said at a panel hearing Wednesday. “This is not only a dereliction of our constitutional duty, but also denies the American people the chance to participate in the public consideration of the nominee.”

Senior Senate Democrats are holding daily calls with White House officials to coordinate their message, according to Democratic staffers. Two former top White House aides, Stephanie Cutter and Katie Fallon, have been working with outside groups as they try to hammer Republicans.

Democrats are running a “two-track strategy” — targeting independent voters angry about Washington dysfunction, as well as base voters upset that Obama is being denied a chance to fill the critical vacancy. Democrats believe that Senate Republicans — who are already defending 24 seats, versus only 10 for Democrats, and facing the specter of Donald Trump or Ted Cruz as their nominee — have badly misjudged the issue.

Democrats have launched attacks on vulnerable GOP incumbents in states like New Hampshire and Iowa, where they believe the Supreme Court standoff will have a discernible impact.

A Democratic-allied super PAC, Senate Majority PAC, is launching $200,000 in TV ads this week in New Hampshire hitting GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte for her refusal to consider a nominee. That’s in addition to the $600,000 the group has already spent on ads against her. Ayotte, who’s expected to face off with Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan in one of the most competitive Senate races this year, has said she won’t meet with or vote on Obama’s nominee. (Her GOP primary challenger has said he would do so.)

Another pro-Democratic group, End Citizen United PAC, spent roughly $130,000 on the issue in the Granite State as well, plus a similar amount in Missouri, said a source who has tracked the issue.



A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll out Wednesday offered hope but also a warning sign for Republicans: 7 in 10 GOP voters said they support not approving a new Supreme Court justice this year, but only a little more than half of those respondents backed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's strategy of refusing to hold hearings or even consider a nominee.

Veteran Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who is up for reelection this fall, is being targeted by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and other top Democrats on a daily basis. Reid has painted Grassley, 82, as blindly following the lead of McConnell (R-Ky.) in refusing any action on the Supreme Court spot. Like other Democrats, Reid has asserted that Grassley is simply waiting for “President Trump” to fill the seat.

“Now, as each day passes, the senior senator from Iowa is trying desperately to justify his blind loyalty to the Republican leader and to Donald Trump,” Reid said Monday. “Sen. Grassley is grasping for any rationale — anything that will excuse him for not doing his job.”

Senate Democrats have recruited Patty Judge, a former Iowa lieutenant governor, to run against Grassley. They hope she can give him his first serious challenge since he was elected to the Senate in 1980.

“I believe that [Grassley] took the wrong position and really did not do what Iowans believe is the right thing,” Judge told reporters Tuesday after she huddled with Senate Democrats. “Iowans believe in doing the job you’re assigned to do, whatever that job is.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who is poised to take over as Democratic leader next year, said Judge “would have been a formidable candidate before the issue of hearing for the Supreme Court [vacancy], but now even more so. … Patty Judge is a candidate who shows the people of Iowa are unhappy where their senator stands.”

For his part, Grassley has dismissed all the Democratic attacks on him as irrelevant. Grassley said he expected Democrats to be upset over his decision, and that’s OK with him. “I have taken a position against other senators, so if you can’t take it, don’t dish it out,” Grassley said in an interview.

Grassley, like other Republicans, is trying to reframe the Supreme Court debate from whether Republicans are obstructing Obama to more populist terrain. He argues that the American people deserve to have their voices heard on the vacancy via the presidential election in November.

Grassley also said he’s simply reflecting the will of the Senate Republican Conference.

“You’ve got to do what’s right,” Grassley said. “I think the fact that you’ve got to consider [is that] the view for 52 Republicans is let the people decide.”

Grassley said he doesn’t know whether Judge would be a tough opponent if she makes it through the Democratic primary.

“She’s been in my office when she was [Iowa] secretary of agriculture,” he said. “The only thing that I know about her politically is that she was part of the Culver-Judge team, and they were thrown out of office.” The senator was referring to the 2010 gubernatorial election, when former Democratic Gov. Chet Culver and Judge were soundly defeated.

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi insisted the GOP incumbents aren’t going to be hurt by the Supreme Court controversy, adding that Republicans have no intention of backing down on their vow to block any Obama nominee.

“I think it’s very sustainable for two reasons,” Wicker said. “I think there’s a lot to be said for letting the American voter speak to this issue in a general election that’s coming up very soon. And also it’s clear, regardless of the rhetoric out there in press conferences and on the floor, it’s clear that Sen. Biden — now Vice President Biden — took the exact same position. Sen. Schumer took the same position.

“So there’s nothing revolutionary in our approach to this when clearly, if the shoe were on the other foot, they would be justified in saying the American voter ought to speak in an election year.”

