West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said he would not support any effort by Democrats to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court if Joe Biden wins in November.
Manchin, a Democrat, explained the Senate was designed to cool down the political atmosphere by deliberating the legislation that was pouring out of the House in a bipartisan fashion. He told CNN that he would not vote to expand the court because it could cause the Senate to “not to be able to work in a bipartisan way.”
“That is not something that I would support,” Manchin said on Sunday. “I can’t support that. The whole premise of this Senate, in this democracy, the experiment of ours, is just certain decency and social order that basically has been expected from us, and especially from the Senate, from the beginning of our government. Now all of a sudden they’re going to say, ‘Oh, you don’t have to talk anymore, you just have to have 51 votes and forget about the minority.
“Well, the minority has always played an important part in the Senate’s proceedings because it was supposed to basically take our consideration, if you’re in the minority, you still have input, you’re still representing, and you’re still being deliberative enough to bring common sense together, to make sure that we’ve looked at every angle we can for American justice,” he added.
Several prominent Democrats, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, have said that Biden should add two justices to the Supreme Court if he wins in November. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was opposed to expanding the court. The inclusion of Judge Amy Coney Barrett would institute a solid 6-3 Republican-appointed majority on the Supreme Court for years to come.
Manchin, who was one of the few Democrats to vote to confirm conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, said that he plans to meet with Barrett during the confirmation process, breaking with some of his Democratic colleagues who have vowed not to meet with her. He said he plans to talk even though he does not support confirming a justice this close to an election.
“That conversation [with Barrett] will be a welcomed conversation. But I’m against this process in setting a precedent that we’ve never done,” he said.
