Biden and Harris Should Just Be Honest About Court-Packing
High-minded justifications based on the issue of legitimacy are less compelling than the truth.
Room for more?
Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg
Joe Biden keeps dodging when asked whether he supports enlarging the Supreme Court in order to pack it with liberal justices. Don’t be surprised if Mike Pence uses the issue against Kamala Harris at the vice-presidential debate: Republicans think they’re on the politically popular side of it.
Among the reasons Biden is ducking may be that the more high-mindedly the Democrats try to rationalize court-packing, the less convincing the argument becomes. There’s an irrefutable internal logic to saying, “We’d like to pack the court to gain more power.” But the other justifications the Democrats are advancing for the idea are less compelling.