McConnell says court-packing question should have been ‘easy thing’ for Biden Supreme Court nominee to answer

Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Sunday stated that President Biden’s Supreme Court docket nominee Choose Ketanji Brown Jackson will likely be handled “a lot better” than Democrats handled Republican nominees, however stated she must reply “robust questions” about her report.

Throughout an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” McConnell acknowledged that he had a “superb dialog” in his workplace together with her, however stated it was problematic that she might  not reply a query that he believed would have been an “simple factor” to answer.

“I requested her to defend the courtroom. Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Breyer each publicly opposed court-packing, that’s attempting to extend the variety of courtroom members in an effort to get an end result you want,” McConnell stated. “That will have been a simple factor for her to do to defend the integrity of the courtroom. She would not try this.”

SENATE HEARINGS FOR SUPREME COURT NOMINEE JACKSON TO BEGIN AMID QUESTIONS OVER RACE AND POLITICS

“So within the meantime, the committee will ask her all of the robust questions. I have not made a closing determination as to how I will vote,” McConnell added.

“Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan adopted as much as make clear that McConnell might be persuaded to assist her nomination, prompting McConnell to say, “I will take heed to the hearings.”

“And by the best way, she’ll be handled a lot better than Democrats are usually treating Republican nominees like Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh,” McConnell stated. “It will be a respectful, deep dive into her report, which I feel is fully acceptable for a lifetime appointment.”

“I am keen to take heed to the testimony,” he added. “That is why we have now hearings.”

McConnell met with Jackson earlier this month and launched a press release afterwards, calling it a “cordial dialogue.” Nevertheless, he stated he has reservations about Jackson based mostly on a number of the “fringe teams” supporting her nomination.

Choose Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks after President Biden introduced Jackson as his nominee to the Supreme Court docket within the Cross Corridor of the White Home, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, in Washington. 
(AP Photograph/Carolyn Kaster)

“[C]uriously, the identical radicals who need to flip Democrats into the social gathering of court-packing additionally badly wished Choose Jackson for this emptiness. It’s a matter of report that this nominee was the anointed favourite of those fringe teams,” McConnell stated. “Right now final 12 months they have been already spending darkish cash to lift her profile. So I intend to discover why teams which can be waging political battle in opposition to the Court docket as an establishment determined Choose Jackson was their particular favourite.”

Demand Justice, one of many high liberal teams supporting Jackson’s nomination, has been vocal during the last couple of years about their assist of increasing the Supreme Court docket, or court-packing. Elie Mystal, a board member of the group, has used his Twitter account to push for this and tweeted in 2020 {that a} “40 member SCOTUS would not trouble [him].”