Colorado Senate Dem candidate says court packing threats are ‘hypothetical’
Hickenlooper: ‘We’re seeing court packing in full fury and it doesn’t make any sense to me’
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Supreme Court has become a major topic in the lead up to November's election, and in Colorado’s final Senate debate Tuesday night, Democratic candidate John Hickenlooper said the question of “packing the court” was “hypothetical.”
Some Congressional Democrats have threatened to “pack the court” if the GOP-controlled Senate pushed through the likely confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett prior to the Nov. 3 election.
As a result, Democratic candidates across the nation have faced questions on whether or not they would support such measures – a topic not lessened by presidential candidate Joe Biden’s responses to similar questions.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hickenlooper in turn has been noncomittal in his responses as to whether or not he would support adding justices to the Supreme Court, saying “it’s a hypothetical,” in Tuesday’s debate.
“Let’s put it this way: I don’t like the idea of court packing. We’re seeing it right now. We’re seeing court packing in full fury and it doesn’t make any sense to me,” Hickenlooper said, referencing the GOP’s appointment of over 200 judges with lifetime appointments to federal courts, on top of the confirmation of two Supreme Court justices under President Trump.
“I think if you get new people to Washington, you won’t have to do that kind of institutional change," he added.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The role of a Supreme Court justice is supposed to be a nonpartisan position, though justices are typically nominated by a president who believes the magistrate will interpret the Constitution in line with their political beliefs.
If Barrett is successfully appointed to the Supreme Court, which is likely, there will be six Supreme Court justices who were appointed under Republican presidents, while only three justices on the bench will have been confirmed under Democratic presidents.
Democrats in Congress fear that the inbalance of justice appointments will lead to the dismantling of certain rights that are upheld under specific laws, such as Roe v. Wade, the Affordable Care Act and the Voting Rights Act.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Democrats have not said how many seats they would consider adding to the court, though they would have to add four seats for it to be considered “packing the court,” to give Democratic appointed justices a seven to six edge.
There are no limits on the number of justices that can serve on the Supreme Court, though 9 justices has been the precedent for the last 151 years.
SEN. GARDNER TRAILS IN POLLS BUT INTENDS TO SHIFT THE TIDE
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It's worked for 150 years,” incumbent Republican Sen. Cory Gardner said during Tuesday’s debate. “It's too bad that Gov. Hickenlooper can't admit that.”
Gardner has come under fire for throwing his support behind Barrett despite his previous stance on appointing a Supreme Court justice during an election year.
In March 2016 Gardner backed the then GOP-led Senate in blocking President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, and claimed the nomination was “too soon” in regards to the general election.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“[T]he next president of the United States should have the opportunity to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court,” Gardner wrote in a press release in 2016, eight months prior to the Nov. 3 election.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Our next election is too soon and the stakes are too high; the American people deserve a role in this process,” he added.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In response to questions regarding the hypocrisy of supporting Barrett when her nomination was less than six weeks before the election, he told Fox News he was following the precedent set by the majority at the time.