Voters to be the judge on their right to know
LAS VEGAS: Voters don’t “deserve” to know if he plans to pack the Supreme Court and scuttle a conservative majority on the powerful bench until after the election, Joe Biden has declared.
The presidential candidate has refused to say if he plans to end a more than a centurylong trend and expand the size of the court if he becomes president, dodging questions in a fiery exchange.
When Las Vegas KTNV reporter Ross Dimattei told the presidential hopeful it was the “number one thing” viewers were asking about, Mr Biden retorted it was probably “Republicans who don’t want me continuing to talk about what they’re doing to the court right now”.
“Don’t the voters deserve to know?” Mr Dimattei said.
Mr Biden sternly replied: “No they don’t.”
US President Donald Trump said Mr Biden was being “disrespectful” to the voting process and “the people”.
“What that means is that they’re going to do it, because obviously, that means 100 per cent (court stacking is) what they’re going to do,” he said.
Republican lawmakers have vowed to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court before the November 3 election, and Mr Trump has warned top Democrats would move to “pack” the court with progressive judges in order to prevent a conservative majority.
The number of judges isn’t specified by law, but there has been nine since 1869.
Democrats are furious the Republicans are moving forwards to confirm Ms Coney
Barrett weeks before the presidential vote, after the party had previously blocked former president Barack Obama’s vacancy pick in March 2016, due to the closeness of the election in November that year.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump fronted a rally on the South Lawn of the White House in his return to the election campaign after recovering from COVID-19.
“This is the most important election we’ve ever had,” Mr Trump told thousands of chanting supporters.
“I want to thank all of you for your prayers,” he said.