Former Vice President Joe Biden claimed on Monday that court-packing was only an issue because the media were “fascinated” by it, suggesting that voters did not actually care.
Biden made his comments in an interview with WLWT in Cincinnati, Ohio:
The topic many political pundits say Biden has seemingly changed course on or flat out evaded in the wake of the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, his stance on packing the Supreme Court.
“This is the first time in American history in the middle of an election, a Supreme Court nominee has been named, and the constitution implies that a chance to weigh in who they want to be on the court. Now only one way to do it, by who they pick as their senator and their president. That’s the court-packing going on now,” said Biden.
Ashley Kirklen: “But sir, wouldn’t you say that your non-answer has become a bigger issue on the campaign trail?”
Biden: “No, only because you guys are fascinated with it, but no, because we’re still focusing on what this is all about. This is all about taking away people’s insurance,” said Biden.
“Court-packing” refers to the idea of adding seats to the Supreme Court and filling them with left-wing justices. The idea has been picking up steam among Democrats since last year, as a way to overcome a nominal conservative majority on the Court.
The Court has been at nine justices for a century and-a-half.
A poll Tuesday suggested that voters reject court-packing by a margin of two-to-one
Do you favor or oppose increasing the number of justices on the Supreme Court?
Favor 21%
Oppose 46%@YouGovAmerica/@YahooNews, RV, 10/9-11https://t.co/gIBzjtX1z9— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) October 13, 2020
Some Democrats have begun publicly backing away from the idea, but Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), have avoided saying whether they support court-packing.
Biden said last week that voters did not deserve to know his view until after the election.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.