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CNN's Jake Tapper asks Kamala Harris to 'give us a straight answer' on packing the Supreme Court. She refuses — and he calls her out.
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CNN's Jake Tapper asks Kamala Harris to 'give us a straight answer' on packing the Supreme Court. She refuses — and he calls her out.

Another dodge

The left's call for packing the Supreme Court by expanding its size so that a Democratic president could fill the new seats with liberal jurists gained a lot of steam following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg last month.

But Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has repeatedly refused to say whether he would support such a move — most recently during the Tuesday night presidential debate with President Donald Trump.

Apparently a directive to not give a straight answer on the question went out to his entire campaign, because following the debate, Biden's running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, refused to answer CNN's question about whether a Biden administration would seek to pack the high court.

What's this now?

When President Donald Trump said he would nominate a judge to fill the Ginsburg seat and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced the Senate would hold hearings and a vote on the nominee, Democrats vowed retribution — from killing the filibuster to court packing.

Democratic senators like Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii immediately came out and declared it was time for the Democratic Party to get behind a move to expand and fill the high court.

And many members of the media had their backs. Most notable was CNN's Don Lemon and his rant that it was time to "blow up the entire system" and "stack the courts."

Never mind that moderate Democrats like Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) have made clear their opposition to packing the court.

And Ginsburg herself was on record opposing the move.

Still, the cries on the far left grew louder as they watched the threat to their liberal majority on the Supreme Court continue to grow — especially with Trump's nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.

So it was a logical topic of discussion during Tuesday's presidential debate. But it was one Biden didn't want to discuss.

During a back-and-forth about the Barrett nomination, the president repeatedly asked Biden, "Are you going to pack the court?"

The former vice president refused to answer, admitting that his answer would become a distraction during the election.

What did Harris say?

Knowing the notion of packing the court plays well the Democratic Party's liberal base but not so well with moderates, Harris held the Biden line following the debate during a Tuesday night interview with CNN's Jake Tapper.

Tapper noted that there were many Democrats who were advocating court packing, yet the Biden-Harris campaign refused to "give us a straight answer" about the topic.

"Neither you nor Joe Biden are willing to give us a straight answer as to whether or not you are willing to entertain that idea," Tapper said. "But it's not some fringe idea. Democrats in Washington are talking about it. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, has said that he's not taking anything off the table. Is that an idea that you are willing to think about?"

Harris responded by dodging the question.

She, like Biden, doesn't want court packing to be the focus.

"Joe has been really clear," Harris said. "Let's focus on what is happening right now. Deal with later later. Focus on what is happening right now, which is the American people are voting and they should be the ones to decide who will have the next lifetime appointment to the United States Supreme Court."

"Let's not get distracted," she stated, avoiding a topic that makes many centrist Democrats nervous.

Tapper closed the interview by calling Harris out for not answering the question.

"I will respectfully note that you also declined to answer that question with me," he said.

CNN calls out Kamala Harris for dodging on court-packingyoutu.be

A bemused Tapper then turned to his CNN colleague Abby Phillip and said, "I don't really understand, Abby, why they won't answer that question."

Phillip made it clear why they won't answer the question: "They don't that answer that question because this is sort of like the Medicare for All of the general election, which is that there is an idea that is being talked about on the left of their party and they want to stay in the middle. That is why they won't answer the question."

(H/T: HotAir)

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