I feel stupid for having dared to hope Sen. Chuck Grassley would make the leap to vote for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson getting on the Supreme Court. Thankfully, she made it through without the support of Iowa's senior senator. But the victory could have been sweeter, the moment more memorable, had our senator risen to the occasion to help make history and acknowledge Jackson's formidable qualifications.
The few people l'd shared that prospect with said I was nuts. They asked what world I was living in, in which congressional leaders cast forward-looking votes regardless of party or precedent or the threat of being sidelined or losing their seats. Loved ones asked if I hadn't been listening to the scathing, partisan banter of committee members.
I did, but maybe I misread the signals from Grassley, the judiciary committee's ranking Republican member. He was more agreeable than many of his committee colleagues who baited Jackson or rebuked her answers. When she said she couldn't yet make a judgment on having cameras in the Supreme Court, he called it fair. He found it “gratifying” that she didn't think the Constitution could be changed based on "the policy perspective of the day.”
