Biden: ‘I’m Hoping’ Attacks on Court Legitimacy Influence Their Rulings

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” President Joe Biden stated that he hopes members of the Supreme Court will react to repeated attacks on and questioning of the Supreme Court’s legitimacy by ruling differently and that he hopes Chief Justice John Roberts’ ruling earlier in the week in a case involving the powers of state legislatures was influenced by these attacks on the court’s legitimacy.

After stating that he doesn’t have an ideological litmus test for his judicial picks and doesn’t support packing the Supreme Court because doing so would politicize the court and may do so permanently, Biden said, “I think — look, I think, maybe it’s just the optimist in me, I think that some of the [justices] are beginning to realize their legitimacy is being questioned in ways it hadn’t been questioned in the past. And I think there’s a concern on some, maybe even the Chief Justice, that maybe, maybe we –.”

Host Nicolle Wallace then cut in to say, “Well, in the independent legislatures decision, it looks like maybe Roberts had that in mind.”

Biden responded, “I don’t know that. But that’s what I’m hoping. The optimist hopes so.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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