Pete Buttigieg Hints at Plan to Pack Supreme Court at Democrat Debate

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg hinted at his plan to expand and pack the U.S. Supreme Court while answering a question at the Democrat debate Thursday evening in Los Angeles about how he would shape the federal judiciary.

Earlier this year, Buttigieg’s plan emerged: he would deal with the current 5-4 conservative majority on the Supreme Court — considered an existential threat by many on the left — by expanding the number of justices.

Buttigieg claims that he would allow the justices themselves to choose the additional members of the Court — a change that would likely require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allows Congress to shape the courts.

In answering the question in the debate at Loyola Marymount University, he said:

Q: Beyond a pledge not to overturn Roe v. Wade, which I believe all of you have said would be part of your decision-making in choosing a nominee to the Court, are there other litmus tests you would apply in choosing federal judges?

Buttigieg: The Supreme Court is very personal to me, because my household, my marriage exists by the grace of a single vote on that body. And yes, it is critical that we have justices who understand that American freedom includes reproductive rights and reproductive freedom. But that’s not all. I expect an understanding that voting rights are human rights. I expect an understanding that equality is required of us all. And I expect a level of respect for the rule of law that prevents this body from coming to be viewed as just one more partisan battlefield, which is why I will not only appoint judges and justices who reflect this worldview, but also begin moving to reform the body itself, as our country has done at least half a dozen times in its history, so that it is not one more political battlefield every single time a vacancy comes up.

According to Buttigieg’s past statements, his plan would be “nonpartisan.” However, the last time a similar suggestion was floated, under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his own Democratic Party opposed his plan.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.