President Joe Biden stated in an interview with MSNBC on Thursday that the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent rulings went too far, but he remained opposed to court-packing, contending that it could permanently politicize the institution.
Biden’s interview was his first on television since May, and he expressed concern that the conservative justices “may do too much.”
“But I think if we start the process of trying to expand the court, we’re going to politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy and that you can’t get back,” Biden said.
Following the decision, Biden criticized the court for breaking with decades of precedent.
“This is not a normal court,” Biden said at the White House before departing for New York.
During the MSNBC interview, when asked to clarify what he meant, Biden cited recent judgments such as the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the repeal of affirmative action and criticized the court for going against 50–60 years of precedent.
“It has gone out of its way,” Biden said, accusing the court of losing touch with “the basic value system of the American people.”
In May, Senate Democrats unveiled a bill that would pack the Supreme Court by adding four new seats beyond the current nine, a move that could threaten the court’s current conservative majority.
When asked about expanding the size of the nation’s highest court, Biden called it “a mistake.”
He stated that he had put together a group of constitutional scholars to try to expand the court.
“The judgment was that it didn’t make sense because it can become so politicized in the future,” Biden explained.
He said he was still hopeful because the court’s legitimacy is now being called into question in ways it hasn’t previously.
By a vote of 6–3, the Supreme Court struck down the use of racially discriminatory admissions policies in U.S. colleges. The June 29 decision ended the so-called affirmative action in higher education, a longtime objective of conservatives.
The ruling will be felt immediately as one million high school seniors begin applying for fall admission to colleges and universities across the country.
“I strongly disagree with the court’s decision,” Biden said at the White House.
“Many people wrongly believe that affirmative action allows unqualified students to be admitted ahead of qualified students. This is not how college admissions work,” he said.
He urged universities to consider the unique challenges that each student has endured throughout life, including racial discrimination.
“Students from the top 1 percent of family incomes in America are 77 times more likely to get into an elite college,” he noted.
During the MSNBC interview, Biden was also asked why it took a year for the Justice Department to launch an investigation into former President Donald Trump regarding his role in Jan. 6.
In response, Biden emphasized the Justice Department’s independence.
“I’ve made a commitment that I would not in any way interfere with the Justice Department,” Biden said, accusing Trump of weaponizing law enforcement.
“I have never engaged in that. It’s not my role to do that.”
