Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is suggesting that the Senate Republican push to elevate Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court before the Nov. 3 elections is at odds with the Constitution.
“The only court-packing is going on right now. It’s going on with the Republicans,” Biden told reporters Saturday in Delaware. “It’s not constitutional what they’re doing. We should be focused on what’s happening right now.”
Biden reiterated how voters have already begun casting their ballots as the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares for Barrett’s four days of confirmation hearings, starting on Monday.
But Republicans have lodged similar complaints against the two-term vice president and 36-year Delaware senator for refusing to say whether he would expand the Supreme Court if he gets elected to the White House in 24 days as voters head to the polls or mail in their ballots.
The Senate Republicans’ tight turnaround to appoint Barrett to the bench after Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last month is constitutional.
Biden has criticized the truncated nomination process after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked former President Barack Obama from naming Judge Merrick Garland to the court in 2016 because it was an election year.
“I appeal to those few Senate Republicans, the handful who really will decide what happens. Please, follow your conscience. Don’t vote to confirm anyone nominated under the circumstances President Trump and Sen. McConnell have created,” Biden said in September.
He added, “Uphold your constitutional duty, your conscience. Let the people speak.”
On Saturday, Biden also warned Trump against hosting rallies as the president made his first public appearance since being diagnosed with the coronavirus last week. He delivered a roughly 20-minute address to mostly masked supporters gathered, not socially distanced, on the White House’s South Lawn Saturday afternoon.
“It’s important the president makes sure of two things. One, that he is clear he is not a spreader,” he said. “And secondly, I think it’s important that he make it clear to all the people that they should be socially distanced, they can be on the lawn, that’s fine. But in fact, they should be socially distanced and wearing masks. That’s the only responsible thing to do.”
