The White House followed up President Joe Biden’s criticism of the Supreme Court on Wednesday, saying he believes the court “must be nonpartisan” and that it has “made a sharp departure” from established precedent in recent years.
Biden claimed Tuesday that the court is acting less like an impartial judicial institution and more like an “advocacy group.” Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about the comments aboard Air Force One the following day.
BIDEN’S MARIJUANA MOVES SET TO HAVE MIDTERM IMPACT BEFORE BIG POLICY CHANGES
“[Biden’s comments] were based on his respect for the institution as someone who spent decades working to strengthen the institution and our courts at large,” Jean-Pierre said. “He was a former Senate Judiciary Committee chair, so the president believes the Supreme Court must be nonpartisan.”
The president’s critique of the high court was delivered at a fundraiser for Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) as he asked citizens to vote in the midterm elections.
“I view this off-year election as one of the most important elections that I’ve been engaged in because a lot can change because the institutions have changed. The Supreme Court is more an advocacy group these days than it is an evenhanded [court],” Biden said.
Biden has been vocal in his opposition to the Supreme Court in light of recent decisions by the conservative-majority court, specifically decisions on abortion, the Environmental Protection Agency, and his COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The president also slammed the court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to return the issue of abortion access to the states, saying that “the consequences and the consensus of the American people, core principles of equality, liberty, dignity, and stability of the rule of law demand that Roe should not have been overturned.”
The Dobbs decision earned most of the focus from Jean-Pierre as well.
“Ever since the Dobbs decision, you’ve heard from the president directly,” she said. “He expressed his deep concern that this was an extreme and radical decision based on throwing out many decades of precedent.”
Despite the criticism, Jean-Pierre stressed that Biden continues to respect the high court as an institution and an independent branch of government.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“He respects the institution of the court. That has never changed,” she said. “He continues to respect the institution, but he will speak out, and he has spoken out about this particular decision and how extreme it was.”
