Resuming the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh Tuesday afternoon, Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley blasted his Democratic colleagues and their liberal media allies for blatant hypocrisy when it came to criticism of the judicial branch of government, pointing to routine attacks on conservative Supreme Court justices.
“I thought, as I sat here and listened to some people criticize the Supreme Court for, in a sense, being bought, and they always tend to criticize the President of the United States for somehow interfering in the judiciary....It seems odd to me that we don’t have criticism of people that are saying the same thing about the Supreme Court,” the Iowa Senator observed as the hearing reconvened in the 1:00 p.m. ET hour.
Grassley first condemned Democrats for “attacking the personal integrity” of the high court’s conservative jurists:
Whenever the President criticizes the judiciary, or judicial decisions, we hear wails of anguish from my Democratic colleagues. They attack the President for threatening the independence and the integrity of the judiciary. And they applaud the judiciary for standing up to the president. I just listened to some of my colleagues here, one of them spent 18 minutes attacking the personal integrity of justices of the Supreme Court. He said that five justices have been bought and sold by private interests, he accused them of deciding cases to the benefit of favored parties.
He then denounced the news media for enabling such nasty rhetoric:
So I think it’s pretty clear a double standard and we shouldn’t have to tolerate such double standard. And particularly from a press that is the policeman of our whole democratic process. That without a free press, our government would be less than what it is.
Concluding his thoughts, Grassley declared: “And it seems to me that that’s something that I hope some of you will take into consideration. Probably won’t. But at least I said my piece.”
Before and during the first day of the Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing on Tuesday, the media actively cheered on Democrats as they plotted to obstruct the Senate process:
ABC, NBC, CBS Tout Democrats' Scare Tactics Before Kavanaugh Hearings
Even Andrea Mitchell Admits: Dems Obstructing Kavanaugh Hearing
CNN Panelists Endorse Liberal Chaos at Kavanaugh Hearing; Dems ‘Definitely’ Have a Point
Here is a transcript of Grassley’s September 4 comments:
1:18 PM ET
(...)
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY [R-SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN]: Before I call on Senator Klobuchar, I think that some of my colleagues have raised some issues that I demand an answer and I want to speak to those points. But, this issue has never come up from my colleagues, but I thought, as I sat here and listened to some people criticize the Supreme Court for, in a sense, being bought, and they always tend to criticize the President of the United States for somehow interfering in the judiciary, and I hear all about the criticism of Trump. It seems odd to me that we don’t have criticism of people that are saying the same thing about the Supreme Court.
So, I want to read. Whenever the President criticizes the judiciary, or judicial decisions, we hear wails of anguish from my Democratic colleagues. They attack the President for threatening the independence and the integrity of the judiciary. And they applaud the judiciary for standing up to the president. I just listened to some of my colleagues here, one of them spent 18 minutes attacking the personal integrity of justices of the Supreme Court. He said that five justices have been bought and sold by private interests, he accused them of deciding cases to the benefit of favored parties.
So I think it’s pretty clear a double standard and we shouldn’t have to tolerate such double standard. And particularly from a press that is the policeman of our whole democratic process. That without a free press, our government would be less than what it is. And it seems to me that that’s something that I hope some of you will take into consideration. Probably won’t. But at least I said my piece.
(...)
