Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday delivered a sharp rebuke of President Biden’s decision to set up a presidential commission to look at changes to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Mr. McConnell said the “faux-academic study” is a “direct assault on our nation’s independent judiciary” and said Mr. Biden’s move is more evidence he is beholden to the far-left of the Democratic Party.
“So anyone who was surprised by the creation of a commission on packing the Supreme Court simply hasn’t been paying attention,” the Kentucky Republican said. “This faux-academic study of a nonexistent problem fits squarely within liberals’ years-ling campaign to politicize the court, intimidate its members and subvert its independence.”
Mr. Biden resisted throwing his support behind expanding the number of justices beyond nine members during the 2020 presidential election, and voiced support for establishing a commission to study the issue.
Mr. McConnell said it is becoming increasingly clear where Mr. Biden stands on the thorny subject.
“This is not some new, serious, or sober pivot away from Democrats’ political attacks on the Court,” he said. “It’s just an attempt to clothe those ongoing attacks in fake legitimacy. It’s disappointing that anyone, liberal or conservative, would lend credence to this attack by participating in the commission.”
SEE ALSO: Joe Biden sets up presidential commission on changes to the Supreme Court
The commission will be co-chaired by Bob Bauer, who was a legal adviser to Mr. Biden’s 2020 campaign, and Cristina Rodríguez, a Yale law professor and former deputy assistant attorney general during the Obama administration.
The White House named a total of 36 commissioners to the panel on Friday. Others include Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe and Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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