Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Sunday voiced his opposition against calls by several top Democrats to expand the Supreme Court even if Democrats take back the White House and the Senate in the November election.
Democrats, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY), have urged Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to add two justices to the Supreme Court if he wins in November. The call to expand the Supreme Court comes in in light of Trump rushing the nomination and confirmation process for conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who would solidify a 6-3 Republican-appointed majority on the Supreme Court.
During an interview on CNN, Manchin reasoned that he opposes expanding the Supreme Court because it would hinder the Senate from working “in a bipartisan way.”
“The whole premise of this Senate and this democracy experiment of ours is certain decency and social order that basically has been expected from us and especially from the Senate from the beginning of our government,” Manchin, who represents a state that Trump won in 2016, said. “Now all of the sudden they’re going to say, ‘Oh you don’t have to talk anymore, you just have to have 51 votes and forget about the minority,’ well the minority has always played an important part in the Senate’s proceedings.”
However, Manchin — the sole Democrat who voted to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 — agreed with his fellow Senate Democrats in opposing the vote on Trump’s nominee Barrett to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ahead of the November election.
“This is fanning the flames of division in a country that’s already divided,” Manchin said, regarding Barrett’s confirmation process.
Watch Manchin’s remarks below:
“That is not something that I would support. I can't support that” Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin says when asked about expanding the Supreme Court https://t.co/9mkizWHrUu #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/VWbRGhsFvu
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) September 27, 2020
