WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today ignored the calls of national and home-state groups and delayed Judiciary Committee votes on five federal judicial nominees, including that of a lesbian.

Grassley, the committee’s ranking member, has routinely held back committee votes on judicial nominations for one, two, three or even six weeks, usually without providing a reason. Ninety-seven percent of President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees who have had committee votes scheduled have met with these delays, before confronting even greater obstruction on the Senate floor.