Harris Takes After Biden, Dodges Question on Packing Court
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, continue to dodge questions about whether they intend to pack the Supreme Court with more justices, should voters choose them in November.
While Biden has now refused to answer the question on more than one occasion, Harris on Tuesday also sidestepped questions about landing the high court with more justices following Biden’s debate in Cleveland with President Donald Trump.
During the debate, Biden told moderator Chris Wallace about court packing, “Whatever position I take on that, that will become the issue,” Biden said. “The issue is the American people should speak. You should go out and vote. You’re in voting now. … I’m not going to answer the question.”
Joe Biden continues to leave the door open to packing the Court.
Unless Cal Cunningham denounces Biden, then North Carolinians should fully expect him to side with his benefactor Schumer & vote to pack the Court with activists who will impose the liberal agenda from the bench. pic.twitter.com/qbGX4N5FIa
— Thom Tillis (@ThomTillis) September 30, 2020
Biden also refused to answer the question on Sunday when speaking to reporters.
Joe Biden refuses to say whether he’d pack the court because his answer would become “a big issue”https://t.co/lebpOnxDh1 pic.twitter.com/CFWGkm0U7I
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 27, 2020
Biden sidestepped the same question just days before that on Sept. 21 in an interview with WBAY-TV.
1) Democrats are the ones vowing to pack the court, unprompted
2) Following the constitution is not “violating” the constitution
Biden won’t answer the question because he has no control over his radical base, who are after power by any means necessarypic.twitter.com/exqn0VnDwN
— Elizabeth Harrington (@LizRNC) September 24, 2020
If voters were seeking clarity on the issue with Harris Tuesday night, they were disappointed.
John Dickerson with CBS News questioned Harris about the issue following the debate, and described Biden’s answer as “a straight-up dodge.”
“Well, I think he’s very clear, John, which is that he is focused, as we all should be, on the next 35 days,” Harris said. “He is focused on, one, the process by which we’re even having the conversation about the United States Supreme Court.”
CBS News’ John Dickerson calls out Democrat Sen. Kamala Harris for Joe Biden’s “straight up dodge” on packing the Supreme Court pic.twitter.com/ssTIaQx6Rq
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) September 30, 2020
That was as close as Harris would get to touching the issue, which would violate all norms with regard to the court.
Harris had another chance later Tuesday night to offer clarity when speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper about the issue.
Tapper reminded Harris that Democrats are calling for packing the court, should Senate Republicans vote to confirm SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
“Neither you, nor Joe Biden, are willing to give a straight answer about whether or not you’re willing to entertain [the idea of packing the court].”
Harris again evaded the question.
“We are 35 days away from an election that is probably the most important election of our lifetime and, our children’s lifetime, and there is nothing about these next 35 days that Joe or I will take for granted,” Harris said.
“And so the focus right now is on reminding people that we have this election that is very much in play.”
Kamala Harris for the second time tonight refuses to directly answer a question about court-packing. She did not close the door on it, noting they can deal with it “later.”
Tapper notes at the end that Harris dodged again. pic.twitter.com/0hCStWKZ4y
— Joe Gierut (@Joe_Gierut) September 30, 2020
Harris went on to state that the nominating process of Barrett is in “the spirit of hypocrisy,” but refused to answer the question about packing the high court, which Tapper surprisingly noted.
Tapper told Harris, “I will respectfully note that you also declined to answer that question.”
“I don’t understand, Abby, why they won’t answer that question,” Tapper commented to his network colleague, Abby Phillip.
For once, Tapper and a plurality of conservatives and other undecided voters might be on the same page.
Why can’t Biden or Harris just say, one way or the other, if they intend to make good on threats from Democrats in the House and Senate about adding more justices to the high court?
Is this the Democrats’ presidential version of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s infamous 2010 plea that lawmakers needed to first pass a behemoth health care reform bill so the country could find out what was in it?
Does the country have to elect two radical leftist candidates to the White House in order to find out if they intend to further violate structural norms with regard to the judiciary?
Not only has Biden’s campaign been opaque with regard to his policy positions and his health, but now he and Harris have outright refused to answer questions about how they will govern if they are elected.
At this point we can probably assume statehood for Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., and even Seattle’s ill-fated CHOP might potentially be on the horizon, giving Democrats control of the Senate forever and always.
Nothing is off the table.
Of course, by continually refusing to answer the question about packing the Supreme Court, at least five times cumulatively, both Biden and Harris have essentially answered it.
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