Presidential candidate Joe Biden will not say whether he would attempt to pack the Supreme Court, if elected, but he is saying that he would look into court reform.
Biden has side-stepped the Supreme Court-packing question, just as an Amy Coney Barrett confirmation would create a 6-3 conservative majority. Biden took the topic a different direction into general court reform Monday when recording a segment for CBS’ “60 Minutes” that will air Sunday.
“If elected, what I will do is I’ll put together a national commission of bipartisan commission of scholars, constitutional scholars, Democrats, Republicans, liberal, conservative,” Biden told CBS. “And I will ask them to, over 180 days, come back to me with recommendations as to how to reform the court system because it’s getting out of whack–the way in which it’s being handled. And it’s not about court packing. There’s a number of other things that our constitutional scholars have debated and I’ve looked to see what recommendations that commission might make.”
CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell responded, “So you’re telling us you’re going to study this issue about whether to pack the court?” Biden said, “No, there’s a number of alternatives that go well beyond packing.”
O’Donnell asked, “So this is a live ball?” “Oh, it is a live ball,” Biden responded. “We’re going to have to do that. And you’re going to find there’s a lot of conservative constitutional scholars who are saying it, as well. The last thing we need to do is turn the Supreme Court into just a political football, whoever has the most votes gets whatever they want. Presidents come and go. Supreme Court justices stay for generations.”
That could be the case for Barrett, 48, with the majority of the Supreme Court at 65 or older. The Senate is scheduled to vote on Barrett on Monday, eight days before the general election.
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