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High School Senior Rips Into Sen. Grassley For His Refusal to Hold SCOTUS Hearings

Rachel StockmanApr 3rd, 2016, 6:30 pm
 

GrassleyIn a short letter published in The Des Moines Register,  Jake Smith, a senior at Roosevelt High School, totally takes down Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley over his refusal (so far) to hold confirmation hearings for SCOTUS nominee Merrick Garland. Sen. Grassley, who is chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, has refused to back down after President Obama announced his pick for the Supreme Court. Grassley believes the next president should decide who becomes the next Justice not Obama.

“What we’re going to be doing over the next months in the Unites States Senate — this is not about Judge Garland or anybody else. This is about a principle of letting people have a voice,” Sen. Grassley said in March.

Smith in his ‘letter to the editor’ didn’t hold back: “Following the direction of the Republican’s logic, I politely ask you to step aside as chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee until the elections take place.”

Here is more of what he wrote:

However, you are running for reelection in Iowa this November. At that time, Iowans will go to the polls and their voice will be heard. Until then, who speaks for the people of Iowa? You, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, carry significant power in determining who gets to become the next Supreme Court Justice. But senator, since you, too, are in an election year, how can you possess the authority to make a decision that will affect the future of our country if “the people have not yet spoken”? Following the direction of the Republican’s logic, I politely ask you to step aside as chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee until the elections take place.

If you want to make critical decisions based on a constructed rationale, at least apply your creative thinking to all elected officials — including yourself.

“I know he’s not going to read this letter from an 18-year-old and say, ‘Oh crap. I have to step down now,’” Smith said to The Huffington Post. “But I’m just trying to kind of match his ridiculous statements about this issue with another ridiculous statement.”

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Rachel Stockman is President of Law&Crime which includes Law&Crime Productions, Law&Crime Network and LawAndCrime.com. Under her watch, the company has grown from just a handful of people to a robust production company and network producing dozens of true crime shows a year in partnership with major networks. She also currently serves as Executive Producer of Court Cam, a hit show on A&E, and I Survived a Crime, a new crime show premiering on A&E this fall. She also oversees production of a new daily syndicated show Law&Crime Daily, which is produced in conjunction with Litton Entertainment. In addition to these shows, her network and production company produce programs for Facebook Watch, Cineflix and others. She has spent years covering courts and legal issues, and was named Atlanta Press Club's 'Rising Star' in 2014. Rachel graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and Yale Law School.

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