President Biden predicted during a speech Wednesday that the next president could nominate two new justices to the Supreme Court, while also warning against former President Trump winning another term.
“Guess what, the next president might appoint some judges and I’ll be screwed…” he said at a rally in Philadelphia.
The president campaigned at Girard College for the launch of Black Voters for Biden-Harris, an effort aimed at mobilizing support in the black community.
He sought to appeal to black voters in his comments, including promising to add progressive justices to the Supreme Court if he were reelected.
“Look, if in fact they are able to change some of the judges when they retire and put in some really progressive judges like we’ve always done, tell me that won’t change your life when Trump judges are already destroying voting rights , overturn Roe, decimate affirmative action, and more,” he said. “Are we going to let this happen? We can not. No, we really can’t.”
His remark on the appointment of new justices follows last month’s calls for Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court’s most senior liberal justice, to resign as Democrats control the White House and Senate and can secure its replacement.
The idea came from left-wing activists and commentators, who wanted to avoid a repeat of when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg chose not to resign in 2014, during the Obama administration. Ginsburg died at age 87 in September 2020, during the final months of the Trump administration. But Senate Democrats rejected the calls aimed at Sotomayor, who is 69, saying they were “perplexed” by the idea.
Trump named Ginsburg’s successor and cemented a 6-3 majority on the high court.
The oldest jurist on the high court is 75-year-old Justice Clarence Thomas.
The second oldest, Justice Samuel Alito, 74, is facing calls to recuse himself from future cases related to the election and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots after reports of flags connected to the “Stop the Steal” effort were reported. hoisted outside his house. houses.
Alito told lawmakers Wednesday that he would not bail himself out, claiming he had nothing to do with the flags.
The Hill reached out to Biden’s campaign for comment on which judges the president expects to leave the court in the coming years.
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