Chuck Grassley: Judiciary should have more women, because they 'are smarter than most male senators'

Sen. Chuck Grassley said Tuesday he would like to see more female senators serve on the Judiciary Committee he chairs.

“It’d be very important. I would welcome more women — because women as a whole are smarter than most male senators. And they work real hard, too," the Republican Iowa senator told the Des Moines Register.

Grassley, who is the committee's chairman, made waves last week when he speculated no Republican women serve on the panel because "it's a lot of work."

In the Tuesday interview, Grassley reiterated he meant no offense by the remark. It’s hard to recruit senators of either gender for the committee, he said.

“It’s a lot of work not just for women, it’s a lot of work for men,” he said.

Grassley's "a lot of work" remark came in the wake of the committee's controversial hearings regarding Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Senate narrowly confirmed him despite emotional testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, who said Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in high school. 

Kavanaugh was sworn in on Monday.

Grassley: Ford raised the visibility of #metoo

Grassley said he saw the hearing featuring Ford as a positive step for women's right to report sexual misconduct by men.

Ford's testimony didn’t derail the judge’s nomination, but it “really raises the visibility of the ‘Me Too’ movement and also brought a personal face to the issue — and it ought to encourage more women to come forward,” the senator told the Register. 

Grassley said the controversy over Kavanaugh should not hurt the new justice’s credibility on the court. The Iowa senator said critics predicted sex-harassment accusations made against Clarence Thomas during his 1991 confirmation hearings would hamper his service on the Supreme Court. That didn’t happen, Grassley said.

“I look back at 28 years of Thomas, and I sense absolutely no retribution or I haven’t seen any change in the way the courts have operated,” he said.

Grassley said Kavanaugh has a solid record of working with other judges of all stripes as a federal appeals court judge. “He’s a judge’s judge, and he’s going to fit right in with the way the Supreme Court traditionally operates.”

At campaign events, President Donald Trump has been touting the confirmation of Kavanaugh, Justice Neil Gorsuch and a raft of conservative federal judges. Grassley said the president has a right to do so. 

“He’s trying to carry out his platform," Grassley said. "Elections are supposed to have consequences.”