Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took Democrats to task on Wednesday morning for wanting to “pack the Court,” giving a concise definition of what the party aimed to do if it won control of the White House and the Senate in the upcoming 2020 election.
Cruz said that “packing the Court” meant “expanding the number of justices to achieve a political outcome.”
It did not, he added, mean “filling judicial vacancies.”
Cruz made his comments during the confirmation hearing for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who has been nominated by President Donald Trump to fill the vacancy left by the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden has tried to avoid questions about whether he supports packing the Court. So, too, has his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA).
Other Democrats, however, openly support the idea. They began arguing for packing the court after Justice Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Court in 2018, giving it a nominal 5-4 conservative majority.
Biden originally opposed the idea but has refused to say what his position is as more Democrats have supported the idea openly.
They hope to create a liberal majority that will be less likely to oppose Democrat-sponsored legislation — especially if the party gets rid of the Senate filibuster, removing the last procedural obstacle to majoritarian power.
Last week, Biden told a local television station in Nevada that voters did not deserve to know his position before the election.
He has said he will reveal his view on the subject after he wins.
Some Democrats, including Biden, have tried to blunt the question by arguing that it is Trump who is packing the Court, because he is appointing hundreds of justices to vacant positions.
However, Cruz noted that Democrats’ definition is false.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.