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BOSTON – Americans in Harvard Square shared their thoughts on whether the Supreme Court needed additional justices after Sen. Elizabeth Warren called for packing the high court in response to the leaked draft decision that indicated Roe v. Wade would be overturned.
“If they can stop what’s about to happen, yes,” one man, Max, told Fox News. “Pack the courts as much as you need to to stop this overturning.”
Warren joined her fellow Democrats in renewed calls to pack the Supreme Court following the leaked draft.
“Right-wing extremists have hijacked the Supreme Court of the United States,” the Massachusetts senator tweeted Wednesday. “We must #ExpandTheCourt to rebalance it and defend our basic rights, including the constitutional right to an abortion.”
Max shares his thoughts on adding more justices to the Supreme Court
AMERICANS REACT TO SUPREME COURT LEAK ON ROE V. WADE DRAFT DECISION
But pedestrians in Boston had mixed views.
“I think that’d cause a lot of extra issues,” one man, Emilio, said. “With the instability of everything right now, I think it’s better to kind of keep it the same right now and fix a lot of the other problems.”
Tori told Fox News: “More opinions are better on everything.”
Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the draft, which Politico published Monday night, that states should have authority over abortion laws, since the issue isn’t addressed in the Constitution. Chief Justice John Roberts emphasized on Tuesday that the decision wasn’t final.
“Overturning Roe would put the lives of women across the country at risk,” Rep. Ilhan Omar tweeted Monday when she called for expanding the court. “It would fly in the face of decades of precedent and the overwhelming majority of public opinion.”
Mikey discusses packing the Supreme Court
Max was concerned that packing the Supreme Court wasn’t a feasible solution, since Republicans could add justices when they take majority.
“Then it’ll be this back and forth forever,” he said.
“What we really need to do is just stop the life-long appointments,” Max added. He suggested implementing term limits.
The notion of court packing was repeatedly raised throughout the 2020 election cycle with presidential candidates like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and now-Vice President Harris saying they were open to the move. Then-nominee Joe Biden said he opposed it at the time.
Demonstrators protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, May 3, 2022 in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
In Harvard Square, there were mixed answers over how many justices should sit on the high court.
Tori suggested 12, but others said it should be an odd number.
“It should stay an uneven number to have a tie-breaker,” Mikey told Fox News.
One man, Keith, said there should be one justice for each federal appellate court.
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“There should be 13 justices, straight up,” he told Fox News.
Max wasn’t as certain.
“I don’t know if there’s a special magic number,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s a right or wrong answer to that question, necessarily.”
