CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports - Transcript
CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports - Transcript
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
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BLITZER: Welcome back. Once President Bush announces his choice for the United States Supreme Court tonight, the spotlight will shift to the U.S. Senate, which makes the final decision.
Joining us now from the Russell Rotunda on Capitol Hill, Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa. He's a key member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senator Grassley, thanks very much for joining us. Have you gotten an inside word from the White House yet who this nominee will be?
SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: Absolutely not. And I hope I get some name given to me before it's actually announced. I think I should have that courtesy.
In fact, tell you the truth, it was, I think, 1:10 something came on the wire that the president was going to give this speech and just to tell you how closely held it is, our leader announced that he just found out by that source that the president was going to announce tonight.
BLITZER: As far as you know, has Senator Specter, the chairman of the judiciary committee, or the leader, Bill Frist, have either of those two senators been informed?
GRASSLEY: Not that I know of. And as of 24 hours ago, when I had a private conversation with one of the two senators you just mentioned, that senator did not know or even know when it was going to be done.
BLITZER: Well, listen to what Senator Specter said here on CNN yesterday. Yesterday, in terms of his preference for a nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP0
SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), PENNSYLVANIA: I do, I think it's important to keep balance on the court. And that is in every respect. And I think that Americans are concerned about having somebody who's too far one side or too far to the other side. And the balance is critical.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: As you know, Senator Grassley, Justice O'Connor very often was the swing vote between four of the more, let's say, liberal justices and four of the more conservative justices. She often held the swing vote. Is it important to keep someone in mind who could also have a swing vote position going down the road?
GRASSLEY: I think the first thing to keep in mind that it's very difficult to predict how a person might be, as you question them in a Senate hearing, what they might be doing 10 or 15 years from now, because I remember the questioning of Senator Kennedy of Souter, saying that he probably didn't have respect for the privacy parts of the Constitution and thought maybe that Souter could be a deciding vote on overturning Roe v. Wade. Well, obviously, Souter turned out to be just the opposite. So I don't know whether it does much good for us to speculate whether a person ought to be here or on the left or the right or in the middle. But I think in the end, you've got to look at history answering your question, Wolf.
You've got over a period of 20 years, you know, you've got Republican and Democrats nominating people to the Supreme Court, and the nominations themselves over a period of time brings balance to the court.
BLITZER: Let's take a look at a recent CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll in which this question, Senator Grassley, was asked. Should the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, the decision that legalized abortion rights for women in the United States?
Twenty-nine percent said yes, the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade. Sixty-eight percent said no. Should that public attitude, the popular attitude, hold sway in the new Supreme Court, whichever direction it moves with this new nominee?
GRASSLEY: No. Judges, or justices have to make their decision on the wording of the Constitution and the wording of the law.
And by the way, I think it would be wrong to speculate that the first question on abortion, that the justices are going to get, or this new justice will get will be the issue of overturning Roe v. Wade. I think you're more apt to get restrictions on abortion, parental consent, due notice, the issue of, well, another one would be taxpayer funding of abortions, things of that nature that would curb the use of abortion, willy-nilly as a birth control, as opposed to overruling Roe v. Wade in the strictest sense.
BLITZER: Do you believe, Senator Grassley, the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade?
GRASSLEY: Well, I believe that they have to apply the law, and it would be right now sticking within the decision of 1972 and modifications of it.
But here again, I think you're going to see the issue not Roe v. Wade being overturned as the first decision the court might reach, but some modification of it, as expressed in various state laws that the justices have had before them recently, partial birth abortion as one is an example.
BLITZER: Senator Grassley is a key member of the judiciary committee. Senator Grassley, you're going to be busy this summer. We'll be busy watching you be busy, but in the meantime, thanks very much for joining us.
GRASSLEY: Thank you, too.
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