On Monday, responding to a question as to whether he favored packing the Supreme Court with additional judges now that Justice Amy Coney Barrett has joined the court, Georgia Democratic senatorial candidate Raphael Warnock, who is running against Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler, ducked the question twice, refusing to give a straight answer.
The reporter asked, “If Democrats take the majority, there would be court packing on the Supreme Court or the federal benches as well as statehood approval for (Washington) D.C. and Puerto Rico. So I wanted to ask you, what your stance is on those three kind of issues?”
“I think that they’re trying to divide us again,” said Warnock. He then sidestepped the question by reciting, “And it’s really sad because at the end of the day, ‘E Pluribus Unum,’ out of many: one. That’s the covenant we have with one another as an American people. I support that. I believe in it with all my heart and I’m gonna stand up and defend it.”
The reporter pressed, “But do you think that the — with Amy Coney Barrett now on the Supreme Court, would you want to see the Court expanded?”
Warnock ducked the question again, saying, “I’m really focused on representing the concerns of ordinary people here in Georgia. I think it’s presumptuous for me to go further down that path, talking about what ought to happen with the courts. I’m hopeful that the people of Georgia will look at my life, look at my record and give me the great honor of representing them in the United States Senate.”
Video below via The Washington Free Beacon:
Georgia Senate candidate @ReverendWarnock refused to say whether he would support adding seats to the U.S. Supreme Court as he campaigns to unseat Sen. Kelly Loeffler in a runoff election.https://t.co/Q2HDj4A3U2 pic.twitter.com/cxLexwPNWs
— Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) November 10, 2020
If Warnock were to win his race and fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff were to defeat incumbent GOP Senator David Perdue, the Senate would be tied, 50-50, leaving it in the hands of the Democrats if the Biden-Harris team wins the White House after the recount and legal processes play out. Perdue narrowly missed being re-elected in the general election, as Georgia requires a run-off election if no candidate gets 50% of the vote. Perdue came agonizingly close, garnering 49.8% of the vote, as currently counted.
After Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated, “In 1876 there were nine justices on the Court. Our population has grown enormously since then. Should we expand the Court? Well, let’s take a look and see. And that relates to the nine district courts Maybe we need more District Courts as well.”
Democratic Delaware Senator Chris Coons declared, “We gotta have a wide-open conversation about how to rebalance our courts.”
Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) added, “Expand the court. Remember that Republicans have lost 6 of the last 7 popular votes, but have appointed 6 of the last 9 justices. By expanding the Court we fix this broken system and have the Court better represent the values of the American people.”
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) echoed, “Expand the Court.”