Biden all too silent on his plans for Supreme Court

In a few days, we’ll know who President Donald Trump wants to be the next Supreme Court justice. Republicans will praise her qualifications, her intellect, her judicial temperament. Democrats will oppose. There will be an opportunity for a real debate.

The nomination will also highlight an enormous difference between Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Trump’s choice for the court will be out there for all to see, while Biden refuses to reveal even a list of people he would consider nominating.

Beyond that, there lies the growing threat from some Democrats that if Trump’s nominee is confirmed, and if Biden wins the election, and if Democrats win the Senate and House, then Democrats will add some number of justices to the Supreme Court — pack the court — to ensure its liberal tilt. It’s an enormous issue for the court and its role in American governance. And Biden won’t say where he stands on that, either.

Biden campaigned in Wisconsin, on Monday. He did an interview with a local television station WBAY in which he was asked: “President Trump is expected to announce his pick for Supreme Court later this weekend. You’ve said you won’t announce yours, but does that news change your decision?”

“Not at all,” Biden answered. “No president has ever announced his picks that early. Number two, if I were to do that, I find myself in a position where they would be subject to intense criticism for a long time, because if I am elected and enough Republicans screw up the courage to say, ‘Let’s wait until the election is over and see who wins,’ if I were picked they wouldn’t get a hearing until sometime at the end of January, beginning of February, and it’s just not appropriate to put them in that spot.”

Of course, in 2016, with a Supreme Court seat open, candidate Trump released a list of candidates for the court and promised to pick a nominee from that list. There is no reason Biden could not release his own list of candidates.

But Biden is afraid his choices will be criticized. Of course they will. That’s part of the process of confirming a Supreme Court justice. Who would know that better than Biden? He served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and presided over his party’s brutal nomination attacks on Justice Clarence Thomas. Now, he’s afraid that if he names even a list of possible nominees, they will be criticized.

And then, in that same interview, Biden was asked about Democratic court-packing schemes. Biden, who last year said he opposed the idea, told the interviewer: “It’s a legitimate question. But let me tell you why I’m not going to answer that question. Because it will shift the whole focus … Let’s say I answer that question. Then the whole debate’s going to be, well, Biden said or didn’t say, Biden said he would or wouldn’t. The discussion should be about why he is moving in a direction that’s totally inconsistent with what the Founders wanted. The Constitution says … voters get to pick a president who gets to make the pick, and the Senate gets to decide.”

It was a mind-boggling answer. If I take a position, Biden said, then people will talk about it. Well, yes, they will. There’s a presidential campaign going on. Biden is the Democratic candidate. There’s a critical court vacancy. Of course voters want to know whom each candidate would pick. And if one party is threatening judicial Armageddon — packing the court — then voters want to know where the candidates stand on that, too.

So far, though, Biden remains steadfastly silent. And that leads to one more question — whether he can keep his thoughts secret until Election Day.