Ayotte campaign manager Jon Kohan called on Hassan to “immediately condemn” the ads and demand that they be taken down, calling it an example of negative attacks from outside groups that he said Hassan has refused to reject.
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Kelly, who worked as a lawyer in Iowa, is considered a strong candidate because she has been supported by Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which holds hearings on potential nominees. Grassley and the Democratic Ranking Member Patrick Leahy began an oversight hearing Wednesday sparring over the matter.
Democrats accused Republicans on Tuesday of taking their cues from Donald Trump after the Senate’s No. 2 Republican said President Barack Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court should expect to be treated like a “piñata”.
Cornyn said Tuesday that his comparison of the nomination and confirmation process to a piñata was “only to say the confirmation process around here has gotten pretty tough”. They have to defend more than twice the number of seats as the Democrats do, including incumbents representing a number in states Obama won in both 2008 and 2012. He chairs the judiciary committee, of course.
The 82-year-old Grassley is widely popular in his home state and is favored to win a seventh term.
“The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice”, McConnell said.
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“Whether it’s today or tomorrow or whether it’s for the next seven or eight months, this is a very important debate that we ought to have about the constitution and about not only who’s going to be a replacement for Justice Scalia but about the role of the Supreme Court”, Grassley added.
