(Radio Iowa)  – Republican Senator Joni Ernst says President Biden’s pick for the U.S. Supreme Court is a highly qualified attorney, but Ernst says she cannot vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson nomination. “Perhaps my greatest issue with Judge Jackson is her lack of adherence to a judicial philosophy,” Ernst says. Ernst says as a member of the Senate, she will only vote for justices who pledge to be an originalist and interpret words in the Constitution based on their meaning at the time the document was adopted in 1788.

“If a justice’s legal interpretation has no philosophical grounding, that provides flexibility for a justice to bend their thinking to achieve a desired outcome,” Ernst says. “…We have enough politicians in the legislative branch. We don’t need any in the courts, especially the Supreme Court.”

Ernst, who met with Jackson on March 30th, says the judge showed grace under pressure during last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. But Ernst says Jackson’s answer when asked to define a woman was troubling.  “The judge responded that she’s not a biologist,” Ernst said. “…”While I’m grateful Judge Jackson believes science is the basis for determining a woman, I’m deeply concerned that a fellow woman, who is set to define the contours of laws that are specific to women, has to even think about an answer to that question.”

Ernst made her remarks during a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday. Iowa’s other U.S. Senator, Chuck Grassley, also plans to vote against Jackson’s nomination. Jackson is on a clear path to joining the nation’s highest court, as three other Republicans in the Senate have announced they’ll join with Democrats to confirm Jackson.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has approved legislation to require that mobile home park owners notify residents 90 days before increases in rent or utilities go into effect. Under current law, there’s a 60 day notice period. Advocates for the renters and owners of manufactured housing say large corporations are buying mobile home parks around the country and raising the rents on lots to impossible heights. Representative Lindsay James, a Democrat from Dubuque, voted for the bill, but James says it should have limited rent increases.

“They’ve invested their life savings into their home and now, because of their insatiable greed of the predatory businesses, they are facing losing it all,” James says. Representative Amy Nielsen, a Democrat from North Liberty, says the bill offers crumbs to mobile home residents and she voted against it. “So, yeah, I’m angry. This is three years worth of frustration. I think that this effort falls way short,” Nielsen says. “The people of Iowa deserve better.”

Representative Kenan Judge, a Democrat from Waukee, voted for the bill, but he says it only makes incremental changes and mobile home park residents deserve better. “My constituents and Iowans across this state deserve a 12 month lease and, in that lease, safety from eviction,” Judge says. “If you think about it, you have that protection in an apartment…These are not crazy ideas.”

Representative Brian Lohse, a Republican from Bondurant, led development of the bill.  “Wish I could have hit that triple, hit the home run, but I couldn’t get there,” Lohse says, “but I got a single, at least.” Lohse says the bill does includes some new protections, like new rules that let tenants arrange to get running water to their home if the supply is cut off through no fault of their own and it specifies when mobile home park owners can access a home after the resident dies.

A property tax break for the people who own or rent the homes in mobile home parks was removed from the bill.  “So while, again, it’s not the bill I’d like to have, it’s the bill I can get,” Lohse says. This is the second time the House has passed a bill extending some new protections to mobile home park residents, but a bill on the topic has not passed the Senate.

(Radio Iowa) – The Creighton University survey showed good growth for Iowa and other states in the middle of the country — but there are concerns about what is ahead. Creighton economist Ernie Goss says he was surprised at the Business Condition Index for March — which is figured on a 100 point scale.

“It jumped to 71-point-three, and that’s the highest reading since July of 2021. It was up from last month’s reading, February’s reading of 64-point-zero, ” Goss says. “This was almost. I won’t call it a shocker — but I was surprised it was so strong,” Goss says. He says 50 represents growth neutral on the scale. Goss says Iowa and the other states in the survey region are doing better than the country as a whole.

“It’s much stronger, much stronger for the MidAmerican region than the U-S. And I attribute that to much higher agricultural commodity prices and the spillover into the other industries across the region,” according to Goss. “That’s why I think we are seeing a much better reading for the MidAmerican region.” Goss says there are ongoing concerns.

He says seven out of ten supply managers say supply chain disruptions are their biggest concern they face for the coming year, while two out of ten say rising interest rates are a concern. Goss does expect the Fed Reserve to raise interest rates again in May. Goss says there has been an expansion of businesses, but only Arkansas is back to employment levels before the pandemic. He says the economy is likely to slow.

“Inflation will remain very high, of course, we’ve now recorded this very strong inflation number for March. So this is going to remain with us for some time, the Consumer Price Index will be higher in the weeks and months ahead. Economic growth will slow and potentially move into negative territory.

Iowa’s individual Business Conditions Index for March rose to 75-point-six from 60-point-six in February. Over the past 12 months, the report says Iowa’s average hourly manufacturing wages expanded by three-point-seven percent — eighth highest among the nine states.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says his “no” vote on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court isn’t meant to send a message to other federal judges. “I judge district judges, circuit judges, supreme court judges on how I see they’re going to interpret the Constitution according to original intent,” Grassley says, “and to make sure they don’t add to or subtract from laws passed by congress.”

Grassley was among the Republicans in the Senate Judiciary Committee who voted against Jackson’s appointment to the nation’s highest court. Before his vote, Grassley said Jackson’s approach to criminal sentencing was too lenient. Grassley told Radio Iowa this (Tuesday) morning his “no” shouldn’t be interpreted by other federal judges as they considering sentencing criminals.

“It isn’t intended to any of a message,” Grassley says, “and I don’t think it should be read to send any message.” Grassley says it’s his view that Judge Jackson has misinterpreted a 2018 law called the First Step Act, which Grassley co-sponsored. It gives judges more options to impose sentences that are lower than the mandat­ory minimum penal­ties in federal law.

“I ought to know what we intended to do in that act,” Grassley says. “She took advantage of what she thought was a retroactive part of that legislation to give a lighter sentence to people and retroactivity is not included in the First Step Act.” The Democrats running for a chance to challenge Grassley’s bid for reelection this year are criticizing Grassley’s vote against Jackson.

Mike Franken, a retired Navy Admiral, says Jackson is more than qualified to be the next U.S. Supreme Court justice and Grassley’s no vote is shameful. Abby Finkenauer, a former Iowa congresswoman, says after 47 years in office, Grassley is more interested in toeing the party line than confirming a competent and qualified justice. Glenn Hurst, a doctor from Minden, says Grassley is refusing to vote for the most qualified person to ever be nominated to the Supreme Court.