Biden Will Keep Options Around Supreme Court Open During Question Time

Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for the US presidency, is not yet ready to say whether he will add more judges to the Supreme Court if President Trump’s candidate for the vacant seat, Amy Coney Barrett, is appointed.

 

Biden made that announcement Thursday during question time with voters in Philadelphia.

If Coney Barrett takes the seat of the recently deceased high judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, six of the nine judges in the nation’s highest judicial body are conservative by nature.

Since high judges serve for life in the United States, this will have far-reaching consequences for the political wind that will blow there in the coming decades.

Biden said he would keep his options open but promised to clarify his plans with the Supreme Court before the Nov. 3 election. His answer will depend on how the Senate, in which Republicans hold a majority, handles the nomination process.

The vast majority of Republican senators want to approve Coney Barrett before the end of the month. Biden’s plan “depends on how much they push this through,” he said, referring to Republicans in the Senate.