Biden: 'You will know my opinion on court packing when the election is over'
Joe Biden answers question from reporter on court packing while visiting Arizona.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is remaining silent on whether he supports a move by many progressives to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court if the Democrats win back the White House and take control of the Senate in November’s elections.
Asked Thursday by reporters if he supports such a move, Biden once again refused to answer, saying “you’ll know my position on court-packing the day after the election.”
The former vice president once again described the question as a distraction to what he termed the main issue – the push by President Trump and the Republican majority in the Senate to quickly move before Election Day to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative federal appeals court judge nominated by Trump to succeed liberal-leaning Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“The moment I answer that question, the headline in every one of your papers will be about that rather than focusing on what’s happening now. This election has begun. There’s never been a court appointment once the election has begun,” the former vice president emphasized.
Biden and Democrats have repeatedly argued that voters should have a say in the nomination, by choosing the next president and by determining which party controls the Senate. Biden has urged that the winner of the presidential election should nominate the successor to Ginsburg.
With the Arizona state flag in the background, Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media before leaving Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, in Phoenix, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The former vice president, speaking to reporters as he campaigned in the crucial battleground state of Arizona, said the election is for picking the person who will name the next justice.
“I will be happy to lay out in detail what I’m going to do after that,” he stressed.
During the Democratic presidential primaries, Biden said that he opposed a move to expand – or pack – the high court. But with Democrats virtually powerless to stop the president and Senate Republicans from pushing through Barrett’s nomination ahead of the Nov. 3 election, and tilting the court’s conservative majority to 6-3, many on the left are now calling for an expansion of the court to rebalance the ideological ratio of the justices.
HARRIS PIVOTS WHEN ASKED ABOUT COURT PACKING AT VP DEBATE
Biden’s avoided answering repeated questions over whether he supports a move to expand the court – including refusing to answer a question last week as he faced off in Cleveland, Ohio, with Trump at the first presidential debate.
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., walk together to speak to the media at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, in Phoenix, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Biden joined his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, to campaign in Arizona. The senator was in neighboring Utah on Wednesday night, as she faced off with Vice President Mike Pence in the only vice presidential debate of the campaign season.
Harris also pivoted when asked the same court packing question Wednesday night at the debate.
Trump campaign rapid response director Andrew Clark took to Twitter after Biden's comments to write 17 DAYS: Biden and Harris STILL refuse to come clean about their plans to rig the Supreme Court.
