 |
| Jonathan Ernst/Reuters |
When invited at the first presidential debate to confirm whether he hoped to expand the Supreme Court in order to pack it with Democrats, Joe Biden explained that he would not entertain the question. “Whatever position I take,” Biden said, “that will become the issue . . . I’m not gonna answer the question.”
This would have been a preposterous answer from a presidential candidate had the topic been the future of the Post Office. But that Biden believes he can get away with it on a topic as explosive as blowing up the Supreme Court is nothing short of remarkable. Despite his low-key campaign, it remains the case that Joe Biden is running for president of the United States, and that he had elected to take part in a televised event during which he was expected to take positions and address issues. That his taking a position would become “an issue” in the election is almost certainly true. But that does not represent a bug within the system, but a feature. Americans of all persuasions deserve to know whether Biden is on-board with what would be the most radical reform to our system of government since the Second World War. This is not one of those “pass it to find out what’s in it” situations.
We suspect that if Donald Trump were proposing to amend the 1869 Judiciary Act in order to install a set of friendlier judges on the nation’s highest court, the problem with the idea would be evident to almost everyone. But one does not have play “imagine if” in order to grasp just how appalling a notion this is. Up until now, it has been tried only once in American history, by a newly reelected Franklin D. Roosevelt. Despite Roosevelt’s party controlling 74 of the 96 seats in the Senate and 334 of the 435 seats in the House, it failed. The Chairman of the House Rules Committee called it “the most terrible threat to constitutional government that has arisen in the entire history of the country.” This “measure,” wrote the 1937 Senate Judiciary Committee, “should be so emphatically rejected that its parallel will never again be presented to the free representatives of the free people of America.”
From Joe Biden, a simple “no” would suffice.
Why does Biden not offer that answer up? After all, if he were to reject the idea, there would be no “issue” to discuss. --->READ MORE HERE
 |
| Mike Segar/Reuters |
At Tuesday’s presidential debate, Joe Biden was asked yet again about whether or not he would support passing a law increasing the number of justices on the Supreme Court in 2021.
Yet again, Biden dodged the question.
From the debate transcript (which doesn’t perfectly capture all the crosstalk):
CHRIS WALLACE: Mr. Vice President, if Senate Republicans, we were talking originally about the Supreme Court here, if Senate Republicans go ahead and confirm Justice Barrett there has been talk about ending the filibuster or even packing the court, adding to the nine justices there. You call this a distraction by the President. But, in fact, it wasn’t brought up by the President. It was brought up by some of your Democratic colleagues in the Congress. So my question to you is, you have refused in the past to talk about it, are you willing to tell the American tonight whether or not you will support either ending the filibuster or packing the court?
JOE BIDEN:
Whatever position I take on that, that’ll become the issue. The issue is the American people should speak. You should go out and vote. You’re voting now. Vote and let your Senators know strongly how you feel.
DONALD TRUMP: Are you going to pack the court? --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to related stories:
McConnell says Biden revealed he is in favor of court-packing by ducking question at debate
Biden avoids court expansion question once again
Biden Accidentally Exposes Exactly What Dems Want with the Supreme Court
Two crucial things emerged from the first presidential debate
Biden Owes the Country More
Harris Takes After Biden, Dodges Question on Packing Court
"We have to pass the bill before you can see what's in it"? ~ Nancy Pelosi
If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here. Please follow us on Twitter here.
No comments:
Post a Comment