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Americans Deserve to Know Joe Biden’s Position With Respect to Packing Before The Election

Joe Biden recently claimed that Americans don’t deserve to know if he would attempt to pack the Supreme Court if he became president and that they would find out after the election. Biden’s ultimatum should concern all Americans and should be rejected in its entirety.

Supreme Court, Building, Usa, Washington, Front

When Justice Brett Kavanaugh was nominated and subsequently confirmed to the Supreme Court, Democrats proposed the idea of packing (expanding) the Supreme Court. With the unfortunate and untimely passing of Justice Rush Bader Ginsburg, the issue has, once again, taken center stage. Despite the importance of this very important issue, presidential candidate, Joe Biden, has refused to specifically state whether or not he intends to pack the Supreme Court. Rather, as reported by Fox News, Biden recently claimed that Americans don’t deserve to know if he would attempt to pack the Supreme Court if he became president and that they would find out after the election. Biden’s ultimatum should concern all Americans and should be rejected in its entirety.

Packing the Supreme Court essentially means increasing the number of justices that currently sit on the highest court. Currently, the Supreme Court consists of nine justices (there are currently eight sitting justices due to Ginsburg’s recent passing). One proposal has been to increase the number of justices from nine, where it currently stands, to fifteen. Some on the left think that increasing the number of justices would prevent the Supreme Court from being viewed as a political institution, while others believe that packing the Supreme Court is vital to restore democracy.

The United States Constitution does not specifically set forth how many justices must sit on the Supreme Court. As such, this number is entirely up to Congress. While Congress has not changed the number of justices on the nation’s highest court in 150 years, it is easy to contemplate how Democrats could “pack” the court if they controlled Congress under a Biden presidency.

Were this to happen, the results could be devastating, as Democrats could use the Supreme Court as another arm with which to pass their radical agendas. Specifically, Biden could nominate far-left activist judges, who would then be confirmed by the Senate (assuming that the votes were there). By way of example, if Democrats increased the number of justices to 15, they would change the balance of power of the Supreme Court from a “conservative” majority to a “far-left” majority. This would, then, allow Democrats to push their liberal agendas through with more ease because they could “rely” on the newly-formed far-left majority of the Supreme Court to side with them on various issues that come before the Court. This would severely weaken the system of checks and balances between Congress (legislative branch) and the judiciary (judicial branch).

Given the significant risks associated with packing the Supreme Court, Americans deserve to know Biden’s position on this issue. Along those same lines, Americans also deserve to see a list of Biden’s potential Supreme Court nominees, which he has also refused to produce until after the election. As reported by Reuters, when then-candidate Trump first ran for president, he “released a list of 11 judges that he would consider, if elected, to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.” He did this before the election. In doing so, he was transparent with the American people and gave them an idea of the types of judges that he would nominate to sit on the Supreme Court so that they could become better informed about their positions/policies on the issues that were important to them.

Joe Biden, on the other hand, doesn’t believe that Americans deserve to know any of this information before the election. Rather, according to Fox News, citing Biden, “you’ll know my position on court-packing the day after the election.” Simply stated, if Americans want to know Biden’s position relating to packing the Supreme Court and the list of names that he would choose from, they need to elect him president first.

Americans should think long and hard about what this means. In essence, Biden is giving the American public an ultimatum whereby it is “his way or the highway.” In other words, from Biden’s perspective, Americans only have one choice, which is to vote for him and to blindly accept what he feels is the best course of action relative to the Supreme Court (even if it involves packing the Court with far-left activist justices).

Americans must reject Biden’s ultimatum for several reasons. First, Biden (and his running mate, Kamala Harris) support a far-left agenda that would result in higher taxes, open borders, “defunding” the police, eliminating fracking, eliminating fossil fuels and implementing the unaffordable and impractical Green New Deal, socialized medicine, decreased security at home and abroad, appeasing the nation’s enemies, eroding/eliminating the Second Amendment, and devastating the nation’s economy. Second, the Supreme Court can play a major role in shaping this far-left agenda. Given the precedent setting nature of the Supreme Court’s rulings/decisions, the decision to pack the Court with far-left progressive justices would make it much easier for Biden and the Democrats to push their far-left policies through, thereby creating very dangerous legal precedent.

For these reasons, American deserve to know whether Biden intends to pack the Supreme Court, and, if so, which judges he will select from and/or consider. The decision to pack the Supreme Court will have serious consequences that will not only impact the balance of power on the Court, but the rights of each and every American who will be bound by the Court’s decisions/rulings.

The Court should not be utilized as a tool to further the agenda of a political party. If Biden decides to pack the Supreme Court, he will not be restoring democracy, but seriously eroding it for the indefinite future. As such, Americans deserve an answer from Biden before casting their vote!

Mr. Hakim is a writer, commentator and an attorney.  His articles have been published in The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, The Western Journal, American Thinker and other online publications. Follow him on Twitter @ThoughtfulGOP and on social media at Thoughtfully Conservative. 

Photo: https://pixabay.com/photos/supreme-court-building-usa-546279/

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The Thoughtful Conservative

Mr. Hakim is a writer, commentator and a practicing attorney. His articles have been published in The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, The Epoch Times, American Thinker and other online publications. . He has also appeared on various nationally syndicated radio shows including the Dan Abrams Show and the Alan Nathan Show.

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