WASHINGTON—Today, The Heritage Foundation’s John Malcolm testified before the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States in a hearing titled, “Perspectives on Court Reform.”
During his testimony, Malcolm stated that the White House created the commission in response to politicized demands from the left to expand the Supreme Court with the goal of allowing the president to appoint justices more likely to issue rulings in favor of the left’s agenda. This poses a real danger to the independence of the judiciary.
Malcolm is vice president of the Institute for Constitutional Government, director of the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, and Heritage’s Ed Gilbertson and Sherry Lindberg Gilbertson senior legal fellow. As he explained in his testimony, Biden’s commission is a political maneuver by the left to pack the courts:
“There is no crisis that needs to be addressed. Let’s face it: The reason this commission was established is because former President Donald Trump appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court during his one term, and that prompted President Joe Biden to declare when he was on the campaign trail that the Supreme Court ‘is getting out of whack.’
“Does anyone believe that those now insisting on ‘reforming’ the court would still be saying that the court is ‘out of whack’ if the Senate had confirmed Merrick Garland in 2016 and a President Hillary Clinton had named the replacements for Justices Anthony Kennedy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg—thereby resulting in a six-to-three split in favor of Democrat-appointed justices? I don’t think so.
“The biggest threat to the independence of the judiciary is the proposal to pack the court. Back in 1983, then-Sen. Joe Biden referred to court-packing as a ‘bonehead idea.’ He was right.”
Watch Malcolm’s full remarks HERE.
Read Malcolm’s full testimony HERE.
Additional Heritage Resources on the Supreme Court and Court Packing:
