President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden talk with Judge Sonia Sotomayor in the Blue Room following the announcement that she is the President’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice David Souter, May 26, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Who gets into the White House is not the only concern for voters this coming November. Should Democrats also win the Senate, Andrew McCarthy in NRO lists an abundance of other steps they would follow:
- expanding and packing the lower federal courts
- statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico
- single-payer healthcare
- elements of the Green New Deal
- a massive bailout for mismanaged blue states
- breaking up and regulating into submission private businesses
- hamstringing the nation’s police forces
- gutting the Second Amendment
- sweeping immigration amnesty
With the death of Justice Ruth Ginsburg, a larger concern to voters in the upcoming election is the integrity of SCOTUS and judicial independence. Doesn’t Biden have a duty to voters to clarify whom he would appoint to the Supreme Court? So far, he has refused to let voters know where he stands in the progressive court-packing scheme – a scheme that could blow up the Supreme Court’s legitimacy.
Forget about judicial philosophy or qualifications. On Joe Biden’s website, it says he would appoint the first African-American to the Supreme Court. That may be Biden’s prerogative, but it doesn’t help voters concerned about the impact of SCOTUS on American lives. As the WSJ editorial points out, “race and gender are not a proxy for views of the law.”
Would Democrats Undermine SCOTUS?
Perhaps more important to voters is whether Mr. Biden would undermine the Court’s independence. The Supreme Court remains one of the more trusted American institutions, but Democrats in Congress are threatening to pack it with liberal Justices if the Senate confirms Mr. Trump’s nominee. “Nothing is off the table,” Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said this weekend.
Mr. Biden wants to run on Donald Trump’s character and the coronavirus, full stop. He also wants to duck his party’s court-packing threats because they aren’t popular. Data for Progress, a progressive polling group, found only 40% of voters favor packing the Court if Republicans confirm Mr. Trump’s nominee.
Would Biden Resist Progressives?
Mr. Biden has given little reason to think he’d resist his left flank in office. From his economic plan issued with the Bernie Sanders team to his increasingly extreme climate-change rhetoric, and new openness to eliminating the Senate’s legislative filibuster, Mr. Biden has shown little willingness—or ability—to shape the Democratic Party in his image. If the Justices rule the way Democrats don’t like, the pressure would be overwhelming for Mr. Biden to go along with court packing.
