Two big appointments in the judicial system, one on the federal and one on the state level, have been keeping the media’s attention for quite some time.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds recently appointed only the third woman in Iowa’s history to the state Supreme Court with the selection of Susan Christensen, who was a district court judge in Iowa’s Fourth Judicial District. US Senator Joni Ernst is happy with Governor Reynolds’s choice and she believes more and more women are taking advanced career paths because of her leadership.

“How many young women out there are saying, ‘Wow I am choosing to go down this career path because of you.’ I see that women can excel in certain areas. I’m thankful for that. I’m glad to see that we are becoming a more balanced society with males and females taking on extremely important roles.”

As far as the US Supreme Court nominee from President Donald Trump of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Ernst has already met the candidate and was impressed with him.

“We did have the opportunity to discuss some of his writings and just him as a family man and as a person in his community. And he has a very upstanding, moral character. Just a really good person.”

US Senator Charles Grassley, who is the Senate Judiciary Committee Chair and will lead the vetting process of Kavanaugh, says opening statements will be made by the Judiciary Committee on September 4th and questioning of Kavanaugh will begin September 5th. Grassley notes that he expects the hearing to take no more than four days.