- Democratic nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, have refused to answer court-packing questions at least seven times since Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death.
- Prominent Democrats have embraced the idea of packing the Supreme Court following Ginsburg’s death.
- Harris again refused to answer whether she and Biden plan to pack the court during Wednesday night’s debate with Vice President Mike Pence.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris have repeatedly refused to answer when asked whether they plan on packing the Supreme Court if they win the November election.
Harris, a California senator, refused to answer during her debate with Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday when Pence repeatedly pressed her on the court-packing issue. Other prominent Democrats have publicly embraced court-packing and Harris herself previously expressed openness to it during the Democratic primary.
WATCH:
Harris’s latest dodge marks at least the seventh time that she and Biden have refused to answer the court-packing question since Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on Sept. 18, a Daily Caller News Foundation review found.
Biden refused to answer when asked about court-packing in a Sept. 21 interview with local Wisconsin outlet WBAY.
“It’s a legitimate question, but let me tell you why I’m not going answer that question. Because it will shift the focus, that’s what [Trump] wants, he never wants to talk about the issue at hand and he always tries to change the subject,” Biden said.
Biden dodged the court-packing question a second time when asked by a reporter on Sept. 27. “I know you’re going to be upset with my answer but what I’m not going to do is play the Trump game—which is a good game he plays—take your eye off the issue before us,” he said.
“If I were to say yes or no to that, that becomes a big issue,” Biden continued. Biden previously opposed court-packing during the Democratic primary, before changing his tune after Ginsburg’s death.
Biden refused to answer a third time whether he plans on packing the Supreme Court when asked about the issue during the first presidential debate on Sept. 29.
“Whatever the position I take, that will be the issue,” said Biden, who in the same debate proclaimed himself as the face of the Democratic Party. (RELATED: Moderator Susan Page Asks Zero Questions About Kamala Harris Raising Money For Bail Fund That Helped Release Domestic Abuser)
Joe Biden is asked if he would expand the size of the Supreme Court:
“Whatever the position I take, that will be the issue.” pic.twitter.com/ZVKl2HYsrm
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 30, 2020
“You should go out and vote. You are voting now. Vote and let your senators know how strongly you feel,” Biden continued.
Harris also refused to answer the question following the first Trump-Biden debate.
“Neither you nor Joe Biden are willing to give a straight answer as to whether or not you’re willing to entertain that idea,” CNN anchor Jake Tapper said to Harris in a post-debate interview. Harris dodged the question entirely in her answer.
“We are 35 days away from an election that is probably the most important election of our lifetime and our children’s lifetime, and there is nothing about these next 35 days that Joe or I will take for granted, and so the focus right now is on reminding people that we have this election that it is very much in play,” she said.
“I will respectfully note you also declined to answer that question with me,” Tapper noted.
The day after the debate, Sept. 30, Biden refused to answer the court-packing question in two separate interviews with local news outlets in Pennsylvania.
“I’m not going to play Trump’s game,” Biden told Pittsburgh’s Action 4 News. “Right now, my entire focus is seeing to it that the American people get their chance, the election’s already started, to have their say on who the next Supreme Court Justice is.”
That same day, 6News reporter Crispin Havener noted to Biden that he dodged moderator Chris Wallace’s question about packing the Supreme Court during the first debate. “Do you support the idea of packing the court?” asked Havener.
“I’m not dodging the question,” Biden insisted, “what I’m doing is staying focused.”
“You know, and I’m not being critical of you at all, I give you my word, but if I answer the question no matter which way I answer it, then that becomes the headline tomorrow, that becomes the headline for the next three days, ‘the presidential nominee says he’s going to or not going to do the following,'” Biden added.
His campaign did not return the DCNF’s request for clarification on his position on packing the court.
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