Tipsheet

Sorry, Joe, You're Going to Have to Answer The Question About Packing the Courts

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  October 01, 2020 4:05 PM

I mean, at some point, Joe Biden is going to have to answer this question and risk the wrath of the progressive Left. The court-packing run-around is getting old. We have a Supreme Court fight. We have Senate Democrats pushing it, along with ending the filibuster entirely, and the prevarication from the Biden camp is worthy of a gold medal. This isn’t going away. It’s an election year. Trump is talking about it. The media keeps asking it, and Chuck Schumer keeps fanning the flames. 

I’m going to make a bet that Biden is not a fan of court-packing. While it got drowned out due to the chaotic debate on Tuesday night, Joe Biden distanced himself from Medicare for All, defunding the police, and the Green New Deal. All of this despite Joe saying he wanted to reallocate funds from law enforcement, which is the same thing as defunding. His campaign website also says he supports the Green New Deal. So, what gives? He’s been calling a lid before 10 AM close to a dozen times in the past two weeks. He’s backed away from three of the top issues that animate the progressive base. Biden is all talk, no action—and this is a base election. By that standard, Trump won Tuesday’s debate hands down. Why would any lefty voter support Biden after he just ran away from your agenda?

I think Biden’s people know this as well. The Left reeling from the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wants to pack the Court. Biden’s refusal to do so will only give the base another reason to be deflated less than 40 days from Election Day. Hence, the hiding in the basement, which only furthers the narrative that a) he doesn’t have the stamina, and b) avoids the press at all costs because he can’t go multiple rounds with the press. He also has a temper. Biden has been in DC for over four decades and people like that want to keep hallmark traditions of the institutions intact, like the filibuster and keeping the Supreme Court to nine members. Everyone and their mother know court-packing wasn’t popular when FDR tried to do it. Do Democrats really want to set another precedent that bites them in the ass? Harry Reid chipping away at the filibuster lead to all of this. Ruth Bader Ginsburg not retiring lead to this. Trump winning the biggest political upset in recent memory lead to this. Elections have consequences. 

Biden won’t release his list of judges…because they’d have to be loaded with communist candidates since Trump is right; Biden has to kowtow to the radical Left. If Joe Biden says he’s the Democratic Party, being the 2020 nominee, then he should answer the court-packing question. Otherwise, as the Wall Street Journal editorial board insinuated, he’s is showing he’s just a figurehead to quasi-Marxists (via WSJ):

Mr. Biden: “Whatever position I take on that, that’ll become the issue. The issue is the American people should speak. You should go out and vote. We’re in voting now, vote and let your Senators know how strongly you feel.”

Mr. Biden was trying to change the subject back to the confirmation of Mr. Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. But that is a separate question. What voters want to know is what he’ll do about the filibuster and High Court if he’s elected. 

Mr. Trump: “Are you going to pack the Court?”

Mr. Biden: “Vote now.”

Mr. Trump: “Are you going to pack the Court?”

Mr. Biden: “Make sure you, in fact, let people know, your Senators.”

Mr. Trump: “He doesn’t want to answer the question.”

Mr. Biden: “I’m not going to answer the question.”

Mr. Trump: “Why wouldn’t you answer that question? You want to put a lot of new Supreme Court Justices. Radical left.”

Mr. Biden: “Will you shut up, man.”

The former Veep never did answer. But his party certainly has, including his close allies. Barack Obama has called the filibuster a “relic of Jim Crow” that has to go.

[...]

Millions of voters dislike Mr. Trump’s divisive behavior in office, but their fear about Mr. Biden is that he’ll refuse to stand up to pressure from the left. That’s no doubt why he said Tuesday that “the platform of the Democratic Party is what I, in fact, approved of” and “the party is me.” But if he won’t tell voters that he’s willing to stand up to his party on something as radical as Court-packing, maybe that’s because he really is a figurehead.

You can all shut this down by voting Republican on November 3.