ATLANTA — Chatter encouraged by the national GOP regarding Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s reluctance to take a public stance against court-packing has successfully rattled rank-and-file Georgia Republicans.
Biden has spent weeks dodging questions concerning whether he supports expanding the Supreme Court. The idea has gained traction since Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, to counteract the Senate GOP’s push to elevate Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the bench, reshaping it with a 6-3 conservative bent before the Nov. 3 elections.
But in Ohio on Monday, Biden finally said aloud what many suspected to be the case: “I’m not a fan of court-packing.”
Yet while the two-term vice president and Delaware 36-year senator undoubtedly hopes he’s put an end to the issue that’s temporarily roiled his White House bid, the damage may have already been done in Georgia.
Gruff Lawrenceville retiree Paul Smith, 73, shared Republican gripes over Biden’s reticence to address pleas from the Democratic Party’s ascendant Left to overhaul the country’s highest court.
“We’ve had nine judges for 150 years, and it’s never changed. Just for political reasons. That’s the only reason the Democrats would like to change it. Nine is good,” he told the Washington Examiner before a closed-press meet-and-greet with appointed GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
Rebecca Weaver, in her 40s, saw through the political spin. The Athens teacher is cognizant that any reforms would require bipartisan endorsement from at least a handful of senators.
“Right now, there’s not going to be any public Republican support,” she said.
And Bud Bullock, 52, was sympathetic toward the politics behind Biden’s hesitation.
“What Vice President Biden doesn’t want to do is alienate certain people,” the Marietta lawyer said. “If he takes the hard position, it might demotivate some of the people who could get out and vote for him.”
After the event, Chris Slate, 59, defended the Senate GOP’s truncated nomination timeline, with Barrett midway through her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation.
To the Gainesville realtor, it was “the luck of the draw … who dies, who can’t serve.”
“The last election President Trump was in, people didn’t understand that they weren’t voting for the president. They were voting for the Supreme Court,” she said.
Further north at a Gainesville campaign stop for Republican Sen. David Perdue, Bambi Gibbons, 55, agreed there was a general lack of awareness about election consequences.
“People don’t realize how important Supreme Court justices are because that’s where the law of the land is laid,” the customer service representative said.
She added, “We need people in the court who will interpret the Constitution as it’s written, not based on the flavor of the week, month, or year whatever is going on — these movements that seem to mushroom up and then die down.”
But high-information voters, such as Norma Patterson, 52, know full-well what’s at stake every time they cast a ballot.
“If they get their way and stack the court, then that throws the balance off in their favor instead of ours. We’ve got to make sure we get in there and start naming people to the court,” the Danielsville homemaker said.
Although Biden on Monday tried to ease court-packing-related jitters that he himself created, it may be too late.
For Elizabeth Chappelle, 65, it was “very telling that Biden and Harris hide who they are,” referring to Biden’s running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris.
“They don’t come out and answer questions. They’re not being who they are. And Trump is being who he is,” the Gainesville retired teacher said.
Barrett’s nomination is expected to be successfully voted out of committee on Thursday. Her appointment will then be considered by the wider Senate body on the chamber’s floor before Election Day, now three weeks away.
