What Biden's non-answer on Supreme Court packing really means
Fox News senior political correspondent Mike Emanuel has the latest on 'Your World'
MSNBC host Joshua Johnson scolded a Biden campaign spokesperson on Sunday for refusing to say whether the Democratic nominee would attempt to pack the Supreme Court if he wins in November and Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed.
Biden campaign press secretary T.J. Ducklo appeared on the liberal network and called questions about packing the Supreme Court “hypothetical” when asked if the Democratic nominee is happy with the current nine-justice arrangement.
BIDEN SAYS VOTERS DON'T DESERVE TO KNOW HIS STANCE ON PACKING SUPREME COURT
“I think it’s important to take a step back and to talk about the fact that a number of things have to happen before this is a conversation that is really relevant. It’s a hypothetical,” Ducklo said.
The MSNBC host didn’t accept Ducklo’s spin.
“Considering that you’re working for the person who wants to be elected on Nov. 3, this is not hypothetical for the guy that wants to be president,” Johnson said. “What is the campaign’s perspective on the composition of the court? This should be an easy question.”
Ducklo again dodged the question, which has been the campaign’s strategy for several weeks.
BIDEN IS SILENT NOW ON COURT-PACKING STANCE, BUT IN 1983 HE CALLED IT A 'BONEHEAD' IDEA
Biden himself said last week that voters don't deserve to know if he would attempt to pack the Supreme Court if he defeats President Trump on Election Day.
Biden, who had opposed court-packing in the primary, refused to answer the question on Thursday, saying “you’ll know my position on court-packing the day after the election.”
A KTNV reporter asked him again on Friday about whether he backs court-packing and said: "This is the number one thing that I've been asked about from viewers in the past couple of days."
“Well you’ve been asked by the viewers who are probably Republicans who don't want me continuing to talk about what they’re doing to the court right now,” Biden responded.
“Well, sir, don’t the voters deserve to know…?” reporter Ross DiMattei asked.
“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.
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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 Trump’s move to fill the court vacancy left when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Sept. 18, more Democrats have called for the court to be packed if Barrett is confirmed and they win the presidency and the Senate.
Fox News' Evie Fordham, Adam Shaw, Hillary Vaughn and Alexandra Rego contributed to this report.
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