“No they don’t…. I’m not gonna play his game, he’d love me to talk about, and I’ve already said something on court packing, he’d love that to be the discussion instead of what he’s doing now,” Biden said, likely referring to President Trump.
“He’s about to make a pick in the middle of an election, first time it’s ever been done, first time in history it’s ever been done,” he said.
The idea of “packing” the court with extra justices — attempted unsuccessfully by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1937 to force through parts of his New Deal that were ruled unconstitutional by the high court — has been a fringe idea for years.
“This is Biden’s ‘Basket of Deplorables’ moment that helped sink Clinton’s 2016 campaign.”
But it began to move into the mainstream after Republicans refused to hold hearings for Merrick Garland — former President Barack Obama’s 2016 pick to replace Justice Antonin Scalia — because it was an election year.
Since Ginsburg’s death, and Trump’s move to fill the seat, more Democrats have called for the court to be packed if Barrett is confirmed and they win the presidency and the Senate.
But last year, during the Democratic primary, Biden had opposed such a move despite a number of other candidates supporting the idea.