Harris and Trump need to be asked about court reform at the debate

The American public deserves to know what the presidential candidates plan to do about the Supreme Court of the United States.

It is such an important topic that both candidates should be asked about it at Tuesday’s presidential debate on ABC.

The court is obviously one of the most consequential institutions in the nation. Because of that, it is seemingly always at the center of controversy. Recent decisions, including the Dobbs opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, and the Trump immunity decision, have sparked a national debate over the structure and role of the court. The political left is particularly frustrated by Supreme Court decisions that have not gone its way. 

“Court reform is critical to our democracy,” declared President Biden in his address to the nation in late July, proposing sweeping changes to the court, including term limits and an enforceable “code of ethics.”

Although Biden has ended his presidential candidacy, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris praised the proposed initiatives and has taken positions on court “reform” that are even more aggressive than Biden’s. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) immediately introduced legislation that fulfills the Biden-Harris plan, saying, “With a conservative Supreme Court working to undermine our democracy and our electoral system, if it’s not necessary to act now, then when?”

A progressive national group received a $30 million donation in support of court “reform” efforts.

Many of the left’s proposals would require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, something frowned upon by most Americans. In fact, according to a Mason-Dixon poll reported in the Wall Street Journal, only 41 percent of Americans support amending the Constitution to change the structure of the court.

But one proposal that would require only a majority vote in Congress would be a measure to expand the size of the U.S. Supreme Court by adding additional justices to the bench — court-packing.

During her failed campaign for the Democratic nomination in 2019, Harris reiterated several times that she was not opposed to court packing. “I’m open to this conversation about increasing the number of people on the United States Supreme Court,” Harris told voters in New Hampshire.

That was before the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision and others that have made “fixing” the court a top issue for the political left.

What does she say about court packing now? Since the late July announcements, there has been little discussion of Supreme Court reform in the campaigns. In fact, it was hardly mentioned at either of the party’s national conventions.

That’s why several former U.S. attorneys general recently sent a letter to officials at ABC, which will host Tuesday’s presidential debate, saying in part, “As Americans prepare to vote for president, it would be helpful and appropriate for them to hear how former President Trump and Vice President Harris would seek to impact the Court.”

The letter suggested that the ABC moderators ask the candidates directly, “What is your position on expanding the size of the U.S. Supreme Court?”

Court packing would not simply alter the structure of the Supreme Court — it would convert it into a subsidiary of the other branches, destroying our constitutional order. Eighty-seven percent of Americans believe that judicial independence is crucial to protecting our civil liberties — an independence that would be crushed if Congress imposes the Biden-Harris-Schumer court reform plan.

Americans deserve to know if either of the presidential candidates support such radical changes to the structure of the court, and why. ABC needs to ask.

Hiram Sasser is the Executive General Counsel for First Liberty Institute, a non-profit law firm dedicated to defending religious freedom for all. Read more at FirstLiberty.org.