Grassley expects another Supreme Court vacancy before 2020

As Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, prepares for Judge Neil Gorsuch's confirmation hearings to theSupreme Court, he said he's expecting to repeat the process before 2020.

Asked whose seat he expected to open before the next presidential election, Grassley responded, "Oh, I wouldn't answer that. If I answered for some it'd be like hoping they die." At the end of Trump's four-year term, three justices will be older than the life expectancy of U.S. residents. Justices Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy would be older than 78, while Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would be 87.

Fresh off a lunch meeting with President Trump and Senate Democrats on Gorsuch's high court nomination and other topics last week, Grassley in an interview with the Washington Examiner expressed confidence that Gorsuch would be swiftly confirmed. Grassley said he did not detect any Republican opposition to Gorsuch and predicted a confirmation with "a lot more than a majority but significant opposition."

Conservative justices appointed by Republican presidents have routinely faced staunch opposition. Chief Justice John Roberts wasconfirmed in 2005 by a 78-22 vote that included the support of 22 Democrats, but the Supreme Court's more conservative members have faced bigger battles. Justice Samuel Alito, another President George W. Bush appointee, was confirmed in 2006 by a 58-42 vote, and Thomas, a President George H.W. Bush appointee, was narrowly confirmed in 1991 by a 52-48 vote.

After meeting with Gorsuch in private, Grassley said he thinks Senate Democrats will find it difficult to oppose the nomination if they speak with him, too. Grassley told the Washington Examiner he thought Gorsuch would "definitely" be a less deferential justice than Judge Merrick Garland, former President Barack Obama's failed high court nominee, would have been, pointing to Garland's deference to regulators as evidence of that belief.