George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley said Tuesday that it is “raw thuggery” on behalf of Democratic Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal to threaten to “take the [Supreme] Court down” if it doesn’t support the Democratic program.
Blumenthal had stated that, “It will inevitably fuel and drive an effort to expand the Supreme Court if this activist majority betrays fundamental constitutional principles.”
“I mean this is sort of raw thuggery. This is telling these conservative justices vote with your liberal colleagues or else, we’ll take the court down if we have to. It’s incredibly reckless rhetoric,” Turley said on “The Story with Martha MacCallum.”
“And I’m just astonished that President Joe Biden has allowed this to go on.” (RELATED: Here Are 7 Times Biden And Harris Refused To Say If They’re Going To Pack The Supreme Court)
Turley noted that Biden steadfastly avoided revealing how he viewed packing the Supreme Court during the 2020 presidential campaign.
“Democratic members are openly threatening justices and the majority that they better vote the way they are expected to,” Turley said. He claimed that Democratic senators seemed to threaten that if Roe v. Wade wasn’t supported by Amy Coney Barrett, they would not vote for her nomination. Turley called that sort of quid pro quo “unprecedented.”
The Constitutional scholar suggested recent decision by the Supreme Court might be a sign that the justices are responding to Democratic threats and that the court is “clearing its throat a bit” and demonstrating that it’s unified on a variety of issues.
“It sort of shows the country that this rhetoric is really unconnected to reality,” Turley claimed, noting that there will always be an ideological divide on “big ticket cases” but usually the justices find a way to come to a compromise.
Many Democrats insist that the court must be expanded because there are too many ideological conservatives in its ranks and balance must be restored. (RELATED: ‘This Is Not Reforming, This Is Packing’: Jonathan Turley Says ‘Extreme Voices’ Want Supreme Court Expanded)
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 15: (L-R) Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) hold a press conference in front of the U.S. Supreme Court to announce legislation to expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court on April 15, 2021 in Washington, DC. Their bill would expand the Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says she does not support the bill and doesn’t plan to bring it to the House floor. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
In April, Democratic New York Rep Jerry Nadler introduced legislation that would expand the court to 13 justices.
Both Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Democratic Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema remain opposed to court packing as well as ending the filibuster in the Senate.