President Donald Trump blasted the increasingly popular idea among Democratic presidential candidates of adding seats to the Supreme Court, during a Tuesday afternoon press conference in the Rose Garden.
“I wouldn’t entertain that,” Trump noted. “The only reason they are doing that, they want to catch up. So if they can’t catch up through the ballot box winning an election, they want to try a different way. No interest in it whatsoever,” he said, adding, “It won’t happen, I guarantee you, for six years.”
Presidential candidates Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke, Pete Buttigieg and Kirsten Gillibrand have all noted their willingness to consider a proposal that would add seats to the Supreme Court.
(L-R) Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.). (Getty Images)“We are on the verge of a crisis of confidence in the Supreme Court,” Harris said in a recent interview. “We have to take this challenge head-on, and everything is on the table to do that.” O’Rourke similarly said that packing the court is “an idea that we should explore.”
(RELATED: Court-Packing Emerges As Litmus Test In 2020)
Buttigieg said of court packing, “I don’t think we should be laughing at it. Because in some ways it’s no more a shattering of norms than what’s already been done to get the judiciary to where it is today.”
The growing calls have brought widespread condemnation from Republican politicians, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who introduced a constitutional amendment Tuesday afternoon to keep the number of seats on the court at nine.
We must prevent further destabilization of essential institutions.
Court packing is quickly becoming a litmus test for 2020 Democratic candidates.
Therefore I will be introducing a constitutional amendment to keep the number of seats on #SCOTUS at 9. https://t.co/VBeJaWmeCV
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 19, 2019
The Trump campaign recently told The Daily Caller News Foundation, “This is just what the Democrats always do. When they lose, they try to change the rules. This is no different from when they attack the Electoral College every time they lose the White House. Now it’s court-packing. They want to change our institutions to fit their own political desires.”
Saagar Enjeti | White House Correspondent
