Editorial: “Ernst promised Iowans she’d fight corruption in Washington. Instead, she’s enabled it”
This afternoon, the Cedar Rapids Gazette Editorial Board strongly implored Senator Joni Ernst to oppose the GOP effort to fill a Supreme Court vacancy and allow Iowans to be the decision-makers this November.
Citing her comments on Iowa Press in July, the editorial board sharply condemned Senator Ernst’s hypocritical and “politically craven” stance that she would rush to fill an election-year vacancy – despite holding the exact opposite position in 2016. However, the editorial noted that Ernst’s position follows her “legacy of playing party politics” despite her 2014 campaign promise to be an independent voice for Iowans.
Senator Ernst’s response to the passing of Justice Ginsburg has been met with swift criticism. Mere moments after the news of her death became public, Ernst’s campaign sent out disgusting fundraising pleas trying to raise money for her re-election campaign based on Justice Ginsburg’s death. Since then, Senator Ernst has followed Mitch McConnell’s marching orders to “keep your powder dry” until the Senate GOP caucus convenes Tuesday in Washington.
Cedar Rapids Gazette Editorial Board: The battle over the Supreme Court is the fight of our lives
Monday, September 21, 2020
- In the wake of Ginsburg’s death and the resulting vacancy on the Supreme Court, President Donald Trump is moving to push through a court nomination before the election. And we ask our senators, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, to oppose this action — and should the president force through a nominee before the election, to vote against that person, no matter who it is.
- Unlike Grassley, Ernst has said she’d support a politically craven push by the president to fill the vacancy this year. But unlike Grassley, Ernst faces a tight reelection race. Her ability to hold onto her senate seat is threatened by the her legacy of playing party politics.
- Ernst promised Iowans she’d fight corruption in Washington. Instead, she’s enabled it, by always being a party line voter for a president who, through inaction and dangerous denialism, has sat by as 200,000 Americans have died.
- As an editorial board, as constituents and again, as humans whose rights are at risk, we urge Ernst to reconsider her position and show Iowans that she’s the independent voice they voted for, and stand against this judicial appointment until the will of the American voters is known.