A top Republican senator said Monday he expects Democrats to force at least a procedural vote on President Barack Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, challenging the GOP’s insistence that the appointment be left for the next president.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, said Democrats will likely try a maneuver known as a motion to discharge to move the nomination out of the committee and onto the Senate floor.
“I don’t think that there’s any way Republicans can keep from having a vote … sometime between now and the election,” Grassley said at a town hall meeting in Iowa’s northwestern corner.
“If [Republicans] think they’re going to avoid this issue entirely, under the rules of the Senate, it isn’t possible because of various motions that can be made,” he added.That doesn’t mean they’ll succeed in appointing Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland.