Biden still does not support court packing, White House confirms

Biden still does not support court packing, White House confirms

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President Joe Biden does not support Democrats pushing to expand the Supreme Court, the White House announced on Saturday.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed the president’s position on the issue during an Air Force Once press gaggle. Some Democrats have argued for court-packing in recent years, but those calls were amplified following SCOTUS’ decision to overrule key abortion cases Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey on Friday.

Many of Biden’s fellow Democrats have argued for expanding the court to offset the influence of the three justices appointed under former President Donald Trump’s administration.

“So, I know I’ve… I was asked this question yesterday, and I’ve been asked it before — and I think the president himself … about expanding the Court,” Jean-Pierre said to reporters. “That is something that the president does not agree with. That is not something that he wants to do.”

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Crowds outside the Supreme Court reacting to the Dobbs ruling.
(Joshua Comins/Fox News)

“A stolen, illegitimate, and far-right Supreme Court majority appears set to destroy the right to abortion, an essential right which protects the health, safety, and freedom of millions of Americans. There is no other recourse. We must expand the court,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., tweeted soon after news of the court’s intent to overturn Roe leaked.

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., also pushed for court-packing during a Sunday television appearance.

“This Court has lost legitimacy. They have burned whatever legitimacy they may still have had after their gun decision, after their voting decision, after their union decision,” Warren told ABC News in remarks.

“They just took the last of it and set a torch to it,” she added. “I believe we need to get some confidence back in our court and that means we need more justices on the United States Supreme Court.”

Biden called on Congress to restore abortion protections through legislation last week, saying he cannot do so from the White House.

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“Let me be very clear and unambiguous: the only way we can secure a woman’s right to choose — the balance that existed — is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law,” Biden said. “No executive action from the president can do that.”