Chuck Grassley: Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh a 'superb' choice

Iowa's two Republican senators offered praise for Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Monday night after President Donald Trump formally nominated him to replace retiring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

“Judge Kavanaugh is one of the most qualified Supreme Court nominees to come before the Senate," Grassley said in a statement following Trump's announcement. "His credentials are well known, and he’s served with distinction as a judge on the esteemed D.C. Circuit for more than a decade. He is a superb mainstream candidate worthy of the Senate’s consideration."

Sen. Joni Ernst said in a statement she looks forward to the confirmation process.

“Judge Brett Kavanaugh is a highly-qualified, well-respected justice committed to the rule of law," she said. "He deserves a respectful and timely confirmation, and I stand ready to offer advice and consent to Judge Kavanaugh as he moves through the confirmation process."

As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Grassley will play an outsized role in the process, overseeing Kavanaugh's confirmation in an effort to once again put a conservative justice on the bench. 

On Tuesday, he and Kavanaugh took no questions during a brief public appearance in Washington that capped what Grassley said later was a 30-minute meeting in the his Capitol office, the Associated Press reported.

In 2016, Grassley led the effort to block then-President Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court following the February death of Antonin Scalia. He and his fellow Republicans argued the vacancy should be filled by the next president after voters had their say in the November election. 

MORE:Iowa's Chuck Grassley in the thick of replacement battle

Grassley has said publicly he plans to move forward with confirmation hearings for Kavanaugh because the nomination did not occur in a presidential election year. 

“As we have always done when reviewing nominees for lifetime-appointed judgeships, the Senate Judiciary Committee will conduct a fair and comprehensive evaluation of the nominee’s background and qualifications, followed by hearings where we’ll hear directly from the nominee as we fulfill our advice and consent responsibility," he said in a statement Monday.

In an interview last week with the Des Moines Register's editorial board, Ernst said the rule is appropriate and praised Grassley's work in staving off confirmation of Garland, and instead ushering in the Trump-nominated Neil Gorsuch.

"I think he did very well in making sure that all of the senators, Republican and Democrat, had enough time to visit with the nominee one on one in their own offices as well as during the full open hearing process," she said of Gorsuch's confirmation timeline.

Ernst said the Senate should continue to follow the precedent it has now set, even if another seat opens up on the court during the 2020 presidential election year. 

"I think it would be absolutely fair," she said. 

She said her primary concern is finding a person committed to upholding the U.S. Constitution, and she said she opposes any kind of "religious litmus test" for candidates. 

"I did have a list of questions that I asked Neil Gorsuch when he came in," she said. "And very much, most of that is centered on the fact of, 'Will you uphold the Constitution?' Just very basic things like that. So yes, I would ask those similar questions of any other nominee that comes forward."

Two Iowans had been on an earlier list of 25 people who could be nominated to replace Kennedy. 

That list — which was released by the White House last November — included Edward Mansfield of Des Moines, a justice of the Iowa Supreme Court, and Judge Steve Colloton of Des Moines, who sits on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.