2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden said that he’d nominate Judge Merrick Garland to fill a potential opening at the Supreme Court if he won the election.
During an interview with Iowa Starting Line that published on Friday, the Democratic primary frontrunner discussed former President Barack Obama’s attempt to appoint Garland, only for Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to stonewall his efforts.
“I think we should have been a whole heck of a lot harder on [Mitch McConnell],” Biden told Starting Line reporter Pat Rynard.
When Rynard asked if Biden would be open to nominating Garland again if a spot opened in the Supreme Court during his presidency, the former vice president responded with “Sure, I would.”
“By the way, he’s a first-rate person,” he added.
But unlike 2020 rivals Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Kamala Harris (D-CA), Biden said he’s not open to expanding the Supreme Court.
“No, I’m not prepared to go on and try to pack the court, because we’ll live to rue that day,” he said.
How about appointing someone who might fill the seat for a couple of decades? Once again, Biden is stuck in another time.
I’d like to see that Obama guy get on SCOTUS.
Biden gave a couple of answers on the courts to a concerned female voter that just made him look…well…old.
There just isn’t a focus there or attention to detail. There isn’t a thoughtfulness to feel the desperation and sense of urgency that most Democratic voters feel. His ship hit the iceberg last week and it’s leaking out. If other candidates are smart, they’ll go after Biden to further confirm what Harris proved last week: Joe is not ready for this at this moment and he might not be so give us others a look as he is too much of a risk at this point.
Yes. And not to mention his creation of the “rule” the Republicans used to deny Obama the Garland nomination. One would think silence and discretion would be the words.
Garland was the nominee that Obama thought had the best chance of getting through a Republican Senate, we all saw how that turned out. THe next Democratic President needs to look for two things in a SCOTUS nominee: 1. A very progressive viewpoint at least as left and RBG, 2. Youth and health to out last the GAK (gorsuch, alito, kavanaugh) death squad. It would also be good if they understood what the word “Justice” in their new title actually meant.