Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida criticized legislation introduced by Democratic members of Congress intended to add four justices to the Supreme Court.
Rubio told Fox News Thursday that the bill is a “political ploy” that serves the Democratic Party’s political agenda. He added that issues with the court sprang up once the conservatives made up a majority of the justices.
“Now that there are conservative justices and judges that will interpret the Constitution the way it was written on the bench, now we have a crisis in the courts and that needs to be looked at. This is a pure political ploy, that’s all it is. It’s hardball politics,” Rubio said.
The senator said that Democrats have used the courts to make policies that did not pass the legislative branch.
“The courts have been where they have done things for 25 years that they couldn’t get done in the legislative branch. They couldn’t get a bill passed in Congress or they couldn’t get a bill passed by state legislatures so they went to a court and got it done.”
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) April 15, 2021
Rubio said Democrats never had an issue with the courts until former President Donald Trump began appointing justices to the court.
“It’s interesting, there was no problem with the courts up until a Republican president was elected and started appointing people to vacancies, now there’s a problem with the courts,” Rubio said.
Rubio criticized media coverage of the bill, saying reports did not cover the proposal accurately. (Related: Democrats Introduce Bill That Would Add Four Justices To The Supreme Court: REPORT)
“It’s sad that it isn’t being covered that way by most outlets, but that’s what it is,” he said.
Former President Donald Trump appointed conservative Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett during his presidency giving the Court a 6-3 conservative majority.
President Joe Biden formed a commission to study the idea of court packing, The New York Times reported. Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said Thursday she will not bring recently-proposed legislation packing to the House floor, but said she is open to considering the idea.
“I think it’s an idea that should be considered and I think the president’s taking the right approach to have a commission to study such a thing,” Pelosi said. “I have no plans to bring it to the floor.”
The bill was introduced by Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York and is co-sponsored by Reps. Hank Johnson of Georgia and Mondaire Jones of New York, The Intercept reported.
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