Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for packing the Supreme Court and imposing term limits on justices is “no secret” and threatens the institution.
Mr. McConnell, Kentucky Republican, warned that Ms. Harris “has yet to disavow her own openness to taking truly radical steps” supported by her fellow Democrats.
In a speech on the Senate floor, Mr. McConnell said those steps include adding more justices to the bench to pack the court with her liberal picks and imposing term limits on the justices.
“It would be difficult to draw up a more devastating blow to public confidence in the independence of a co-equal branch of government than subordinating it to the election cycles of another,” Mr. McConnell said.
“On a laundry list of issues, Vice President Harris’ flip-flops have left voters wondering where she stands. But this particular one is no secret. The Democratic nominee for President of the United States wants to reanimate a dangerous, long-rejected attack on judicial independence,” he added.
Democrats have advocated an overhaul of the high court since its conservative majority solidified under President Trump. Ms. Harris has been in lockstep with her party on that front.
In 2019, she said that the Supreme Court had “a crisis of confidence.”
“We have to take this challenge head-on, and everything is on the table to do that,” said Ms. Harris, then a U.S. senator from California and candidate for president.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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