Progress star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is calling on her Democratic colleagues to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court — a move commonly called court-packing.
Just minutes after the Republican-led Senate voted to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the high court on Monday night, Ocasio-Cortez sent out a three-word response, “Expand the court.”
She added, “Republicans do this because they don’t believe Dems have the stones to play hardball like they do. And for a long time, they’ve been correct. But do not let them bully the public into thinking their bulldozing is normal, but a response isn’t. There is a legal process for expansion.”
Republicans do this because they don’t believe Dems have the stones to play hardball like they do. And for a long time they’ve been correct. But do not let them bully the public into thinking their bulldozing is normal but a response isn’t. There is a legal process for expansion.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 27, 2020
The Senate voted 52-48 to confirm Barrett just eight days before the Nov. 3 general election and 30-days after President Donald Trump nominated her to the court.
Ocasio-Cortez was not alone in her response to the news. Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris tweeted, “Today Republicans denied the will of the American people by confirming a Supreme Court justice through an illegitimate process—all in their effort to gut the Affordable Care Act and strip health care from millions with pre-existing conditions.”
She added, “We won’t forget this.”
Today Republicans denied the will of the American people by confirming a Supreme Court justice through an illegitimate process—all in their effort to gut the Affordable Care Act and strip health care from millions with pre-existing conditions.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 27, 2020
We won’t forget this.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also tweeted, “Senate Republicans just pushed through a Supreme Court justice who will help them take away Americans’ health care in the middle of a pandemic. For them, this is victory.”
“Vote them out,” she added.
Senate Republicans just pushed through a Supreme Court justice who will help them take away Americans' health care in the middle of a pandemic.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 27, 2020
For them, this is victory.
Vote them out.
Since Republicans signaled that they would move to fill the vacancy that opened in the way of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg‘s death, progressive activists argued that Democrats should pass legislation to increase the number of seats on the Supreme Court.
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told CNN that if Democrats win the White House and control of the Senate, “We’ll have to look at what the right steps are to rebalance our federal judiciary.”
While calls to expand the Supreme Court have received a fresh look, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has been reluctant to say whether he would support the move.
In an interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” Biden said, “If elected, what I will do is I’ll put together a national commission of, bipartisan commission of scholars, constitutional scholars, Democrats, Republicans, liberal, conservative.”
He added that he would give the commission 180 days to provide him “with recommendations as to how to reform the court system because it’s getting out of whack the way in which it’s being handled.”
However, he said the commission is “not about court-packing.” He explained, “There’s a number of other things that our constitutional scholars have debated, and I’ve looked to see what recommendations that commission might make.”
When previously pressed on whether he would support court-packing, Biden said he’s “not a fan,” but it depends on “how they handle” Barrett’s nomination.
