Far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) threatened that Democrats should consider packing the Supreme Court if Republicans move to fill the seat vacated by the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
NPR reported that Ginsburg “dictated” the following statement to her granddaughter Clara Spera: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
“The very last dying wish of RBG was that her vacancy not be filled until the new president takes office in January. That was her dying wish,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Friday. “Tonight, Mitch McConnell publicly, the night of her passing, he couldn’t wait 24 hours, issued a statement saying that he was going to give Trump a vote in violation of her dying wish.”
On Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez said that Democrats should “absolutely” consider packing the court, adding, “we should leave all options on the table, including the number of justices that are on the Supreme Court.”
Independent Women’s Forum President Carrie Lukas dismantled the notion that Ginsburg’s wish should be brought into consideration in nominating a new Supreme Court justice.
“I’ll add on RBG: If reports of her ‘last wish’ are true, then she had a fundamental misunderstanding of her role,” Lukas wrote. “She didn’t own her seat – merely had the privilege of filling it for many, many years – and had no business telling the political branches how it should be filled.”
WATCH:
As Republicans show support for moving forward with a Supreme Court nominee quickly, @AOC tells me if that happens, “we should leave all options on the table, including the number of Justices that are on the Supreme Court.” Adds expanding is “absolutely” an option worth weighing. pic.twitter.com/9KgoyrmUkL
— Adam Harding (@HardingReports) September 19, 2020
In an interview with The New York Times, Ocasio-Cortez warned that Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden should not release a list of names of possible Supreme Court replacements because it could damage the party.
“I think that Democratic voters, right now, it’s less about motivating people around a specific individual to be named to that court,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I think we are highly motivated about just making sure that vacancy is protected and preserved for the next president. I don’t think releasing a list of names really adds to that, and in fact, I think it could risk demoralizing and dividing our party.”
Ocasio-Cortez also appeared to question how legitimate American democracy was, saying that the fact that a duly elected Senate majority leader could exercise power that shapes the nation raises serious questions about “how democratic many of our institutions are.”
“We have nine unelected Supreme Court justices, and they have lifetime terms, and the majority leader, any given majority leader in the Senate, can manipulate rules and leverage their position of power to deny even a president the ability to appoint a justice,” she said. “I think one of the things that it prompts a lot of people to do is actually question how democratic many of our institutions are.”
This article has been updated to include additional information after publication.