Jeffrey Toobin: Democrats Don’t “Have the Guts” to Expand Supreme Court

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin says Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) won’t make good on Democrats’ threat to expand the number of Supreme Court seats if they take back the White House and Senate following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“Democrats are great about talking big, but we’ll see if he and the other Democrats have the guts to do anything,” Toobin said. “If they retake control of the Senate, will they really add the two seats on the Supreme Court? They’re weak and they’re wimps and they’re afraid.”

“There is a difference to how Democrats and Republicans go about these fights, and we’ll see if Democrats learn anything from Republicans here,” Toobin continued. “Yes, it’s interesting that Chuck Schumer said nothing is off the table, but that’s not a commitment to do anything.”

Democrats have railed against what they’ve said is the Republican hypocrisy of rushing to appoint a new Supreme Court justice. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has already announced that he would like to bring President Trump’s nominee to the Senate floor for a confirmation hearing and a vote. In 2016, McConnell infamously denied Merrick Garland, former President Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, a hearing, arguing that it would be inappropriate for a president to appoint a new justice during an election year.

“Let me be clear: if Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans move forward with this, then nothing is off the table for next year,” Schumer told lawmakers. “Nothing is off the table.”

President Donald Trump has already made it clear he will move forward and nominate someone to replace Ginsburg.

Alan Ryland

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.