Biden Says He Won’t State Opinion On Court-Packing Until After Election

“You will know my opinion on court-packing when the election is over,” Biden said during a trip to Arizona, asserting that it would grab headlines and draw focus away from what he believes are more pressing issues.

Adding justices has been embraced by some on the left – including some Democratic lawmakers – as a remedy for Republicans’ successful effort to block President Obama from filling a seat in 2016 and current effort to fill a seat in the run-up to the 2020 election.

But even as Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) have voiced firm opposition to confirming Judge Amy Coney Barrett before the election, they have consistently avoided saying whether they would heed calls to pack the court in the likely event she is confirmed.

Biden, a moderate, establishment figure, has not traditionally favored the kind of norm-busting that court-packing would entail (Democrats of a similar stripe, like Dianne Feinstein, oppose it), but Republicans have nonetheless filled the vacuum of his non-answers with claims that he would join with the left on this.

“Translation: they are going to pack the court,” former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said in response to Biden’s comments on Thursday, claiming he and Harris “don’t want to tell the American people that because they’d likely lose the election.”

Currently, Biden and Harris occupy a somewhat safe position in opposing Coney Barrett’s nomination, with polls showing voters are split on the issue, but a YouGov poll found that even while 51% of voters oppose her confirmation, they also oppose court-packing by a 13-point margin.