Not sure if Coons is going rogue here, or he is signaling a change in the Biden campaign. either way, this is going to come up in the “debate” on Thursday, so I hope Biden has a good response locked down.
The first question Tapper asked Coons was whether he would vote to “expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court,” to which Coons said he was in line with Joe Biden’s position that this nomination process was bad all across the board, and that Amy Coney Barrett was unqualified “because of her extreme judicial philosophy.” He made sure to specify that this move on the part of Republicans was an attempt to destroy millions of Americans healthcare coverage in the middle of a pandemic.
Coons finished by saying he was ready along with the Democratic Party to help re-balance the “federal judiciary” however that may look over the next few weeks. Jake Tapper then asked what passes for a gotcha question against Democratic officials these days in traditional media minds, asking “So you are open to expanding the court?”
“Yes.”
That’s big. When traditionalist Democrats like Coons are open to expanding the court, and publicly saying as much just weeks before election, that means the political will is clearly there to make that happen. It also means that Sen. Coons’ internal polling is showing that the will of the people is there as well.
h/t daily Kos