Biden declines to answer question on court-packing

[Ferguson97]

https://twitter.com/JTHVerhovek/status/1308230248723603456

IMO, this is good. If he was really opposed to it, he'd say so. He also knows explicitly saying he supports it would hurt his electoral chances.

[forza nocta]

Good answer.

[Mr. Smith]

Cowardly, but understandable given the circumstances.

[Ferguson97]

Cowardly, but understandable given the circumstances.

I mean, is it cowardly if it's the right move?

[OSR stands with Israel]

Democrats really are experts at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory .


If they lose this will be the 3rd election this century they have blown along with 2000 and 2016

[GeneralMacArthur]

Meh.  I get why it works politically -- keep court packing out of the news cycle -- but Biden obviously need to have a better answer prepared for the debates.

It's an annoying truism of our media that despite Biden giving a great speech today about a variety of economic issues, if he had answered the question all the headlines would be "BIDEN AGAINST COURT PACKING", thus putting "COURT PACKING" in front of voters when we really need it to be banished from the news cycle entirely.

[Bootes Void]

Democrats really are experts at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory .


If they lose this will be the 3rd election this century they have blown along with 2000 and 2016

Bush led for most of 2000. It's only in the final days Al Gore caught up

[OSR stands with Israel]

Meh.  I get why it works politically -- keep court packing out of the news cycle -- but Biden obviously need to have a better answer prepared for the debates.

It's an annoying truism of our media that despite Biden giving a great speech today about a variety of economic issues, if he had answered the question all the headlines would be "BIDEN AGAINST COURT PACKING", thus putting "COURT PACKING" in front of voters when we really need it to be banished from the news cycle entirely.

It’s not hard then , just say I’ll veto it . That was literally his position in the primary and if Biden opposes court packing is the headline news he would get more popular and do better in the polls

[GeneralMacArthur]

Meh.  I get why it works politically -- keep court packing out of the news cycle -- but Biden obviously need to have a better answer prepared for the debates.

It's an annoying truism of our media that despite Biden giving a great speech today about a variety of economic issues, if he had answered the question all the headlines would be "BIDEN AGAINST COURT PACKING", thus putting "COURT PACKING" in front of voters when we really need it to be banished from the news cycle entirely.

It’s not hard then , just say I’ll veto it lol . That was literally his position in the primary

Yeah, I'm assuming he'll say he is against it in the debates (he won't want to say he'd veto it, since that would piss off the part of the base that doesn't understand politics).  I really don't want to see the party devolve into a public for-or-against court packing debate right now though.  Everyone should just say they're against it.  Then after the election they can 100% flip-flop, if politically expedient.  After all, that's what the Republicans are doing right now and half the country apparently has no problem with it whatsoever.

[Pericles]

Great approach, I love what I am seeing. Democrats must not accept a conservative 6-3 Court. There is no political or moral downside (the Supreme Court is already illegitimate as an impartial non-partisan branch), so Democrats should do what it takes to gain power and benefit themselves on policy. Biden can have a successful presidency regardless, but the odds are higher if he removes the risk entirely of this illegitimate Court striking down his legislation on bogus arguments.

[Splash]

Hot take: Biden's position on packing the court, in and of itself, will have very little influence on his polling position or the outcome of the race. This subject is mostly the domain of fire-breathing partisans. The only way it impacts his lead is if the Q&A takes away from other topics where he maintains the advantage over Trump, including health care and COVID.


He does need a better non-answer to the question though - one that'll help him pivot to health care or, at the very least, shine a light on the GOP's hypocrisy.

[DrScholl]

On Saturday, I spoke to a member of Congress about the idea and she said that everything should be on the table and I'm assuming that Biden is taking a similar position of not outright taking expanding the court off the table.

[Sbane]

Democrats really are experts at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory .


If they lose this will be the 3rd election this century they have blown along with 2000 and 2016

2016 was absolutely Republicans to win. Only because they nominated a weak candidate like Trump did they perform as they did. Rubio or Kasich would have done better.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Democrats really are experts at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory .


If they lose this will be the 3rd election this century they have blown along with 2000 and 2016

2016 was absolutely Republicans to win. Only because they nominated a weak candidate like Trump did they perform as they did. Rubio or Kasich would have done better.

Yes of course but the gop still nominated Trump and Dems should have been able to beat Trump

[Hammy]

Cowardly, but understandable given the circumstances.

Actually this is the smart decision. No matter what answer he gives will be used against him, with nothing really to gain either way--so why start making unforced mistakes?

[Gass3268]

Yeah, Biden should only come out in favor of court packing if he wins, Democrats get the Senate, and they can get the support of a majority.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Its gonna be a 51/49 Senate, AZ, CO, GA, ME and NC and Feinstein, Manchin and Simema are no votes on CRT packing. Dems are gonna have to win both GA running to Crt pack and Loeffler is commissioner of WNBA

[Landslide Lyndon]

Like Schumer and Pelosi he should say that everything is on the table without explicitly mentioning court-packing. It's a thinly veiled warning towards Republicans to not overreach while maintaining plausible deniability.

[Beet]

I hate to say it, but this is probably the right answer by Biden. It's too early to say because there are so many possibilities that the future could go in, it would be irresponsible of him to claim he has all the answers now when nobody with any brain cells can say they do. One thing is for sure, the next six weeks are going to be wild. The entire Trump presidency is a roller coaster ride where all the assumptions of the past have been upended.

[Woody]

What a coward. This guy spends most of his time at home thinking he will win by sitting on his ass and running on not being Trump, continues pussyfooting on issues, assuring his rich donors & masters behind camera that nothing will change, he is never bold and flip-flops on a regular basis due to electoral pressure; typical neolib centrist empty-suit pussy. And people think this joke will be a fighter, hahahaha

[Hammy]

What a coward. This guy spends most of his time at home thinking he will win by sitting on his ass and running on not being Trump, continues pussyfooting on issues, assuring his rich donors & masters behind camera that nothing will change, he is never bold and flip-flops on a regular basis due to electoral pressure; typical neolib centrist empty-suit pussy. And people think this joke will be a fighter, hahahaha

Your president lays in bed all day and wastes money so he can watch his own ads as they come on TV.

[Beet]

What a coward. This guy spends most of his time at home thinking he will win by sitting on his ass and running on not being Trump, continues pussyfooting on issues, assuring his rich donors & masters behind camera that nothing will change, he is never bold and flip-flops on a regular basis due to electoral pressure; typical neolib centrist empty-suit pussy. And people think this joke will be a fighter, hahahaha

When Democrats propose court packing the Republicans scream about institutions and precedents yada yada.

When Democrats are cautious and conservative Republicans taunt them about not being bold or fighting enough.

Biden right now is navigating a delicate situation in a time of high polarization. He is choosing to be cautious which is absolutely the right approach. It doesn't make him a pussy, it doesn't mean the gloves will never come off in any circumstance. But he is taking a conciliatory approach with respect to America's traditions and institutions which is the right approach right now.

[Benjamin Frank]

What a coward. This guy spends most of his time at home thinking he will win by sitting on his ass and running on not being Trump, continues pussyfooting on issues, assuring his rich donors & masters behind camera that nothing will change, he is never bold and flip-flops on a regular basis due to electoral pressure; typical neolib centrist empty-suit pussy. And people think this joke will be a fighter, hahahaha

Biden's speech/conversation to his rich donors was behind closed doors, so it isn't known exactly what he said.  However, one likely explanation of what he said is entirely consistent with his belief in liberal neo-classical economics.

I.E, buy helping others out it will grow the U.S economy and everybody will be better off, including you.  So, you wealthy people have nothing to fear from my Presidency or by my raising your taxes, nothing will change, you will still be as wealthy as you ever were.

The only rich people who don't like this, and it's many of them, are those who want the power and wealth only for themselves and want everybody else to be their surfs.  That is the position of Donald Trump and his wealthy donors.

[Podgy the Bear]

What a coward. This guy spends most of his time at home thinking he will win by sitting on his ass and running on not being Trump, continues pussyfooting on issues, assuring his rich donors & masters behind camera that nothing will change, he is never bold and flip-flops on a regular basis due to electoral pressure; typical neolib centrist empty-suit pussy. And people think this joke will be a fighter, hahahaha

It's a reasonable approach by Biden.  By doing so, he keeps his eyes on the prize--which is to be elected President in November.  We'll see what happens with the judicial system after that.  There will be workarounds.   I'm not a doom and gloomer to think that the world has come to an end with a 6-3 conservative majority.

Meanwhile, Trump's loss in November has serious implications for him and his family.  Tax and bank fraud indictments are circling around them.  And Trump, his family, and his businesses are not going to be able to avoid that. 

[wbrocks67]

There is nothing wrong to this approach, epsecially bc Biden shouldn't get ahead of himself considering we don't even know if Biden will win.

But I'm sure this will be the next "issue" for Biden among the pundit class that no one in real life cares about (i.e. voters are not going to get mad about him not taking a side)