After Biden Campaign Refuse to Answer Court-Packing Question, Media Redefines ‘Packing’

One of the hottest topics on the 2020 campaign trail this week revolves around the Supreme Court, and just how a potential Biden-Harris win could effect the highest court in the land.

During the first presidential debate between incumbent Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, the latter famously tiptoed around the question of whether or not he would seek to add extra justices to the Supreme Court if elected, in order to offset the clear conservative slant that the former has ushered in.

Then, in last week’s vice presidential debate, Kamala Harris similarly sidestepped the question, leaving many to wonder just what the pair is hiding.

This week, the Associated Press published a hot take on the issue that sought to rebrand “packing” the court as “depoliticizing” it. 

The AP article in question was about the Senate race between Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) and incumbent Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT). The issue of court-packing came up during a recent debate:

The AP originally reported: “Bullock said that if Coney Barrett was confirmed, he would be open to measures to depoliticize the court, including adding judges to the bench, a practice critics have dubbed packing the courts.”

The AP later updated its article to note “to make clear that it is Bullock’s opinion, rather than a fact, that adding justices to the Supreme Court would depoliticize the court.”

It will certainly be interesting to see if either Biden or Harris suddenly begins to use the term “depoliticizing” in regard to the court in the coming weeks, especially as they will be continually pressed for an answer on this subject.