Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

WASHINGTON — Utah Sen. Mike Lee wants to know where U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson stands on the idea of expanding the size of the nation’s highest court.

In facing that question Tuesday from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jackson declined to say whether she supports adding additional justices on the court, saying such speculation goes beyond “the proper role of a judge.”

“Again, my north star is the consideration of the proper role of a judge in our constitutional scheme,” Jackson said, responding to Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill. “And in my view, judges should not be speaking to political issues and certainly not a nominee for a position on the Supreme Court.”

Lee is scheduled to question Jackson Tuesday afternoon. He posted a brief video on Twitter ahead of his questioning, saying that Jackson has so far declined to talk about so-called court packing.

“I do think it’s an important issue. It’s an important issue that is not one that could ever come up and be decided by the Supreme Court … It’s set aside as something for Congress but it has implications for the court, which is why some of us would like to know where she stands on it and what she would at least acknowledge is the risks associated with doing that,” he said.

Lee has called court packing “wrong” and a “bonehead” idea. He raised the topic in his opening statement Monday on the first day of Jackson’s confirmation hearing.

“We lose the ability to protect the court if we allow arguments to take root that are focused on expanding that and turning the court into a political body,” Lee said.

Durbin noted that now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett also declined to answer questions about court packing during her confirmation hearings in 2020, saying she will not state an opinion on matters of public policy.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee’s ranking member, pointed out that current and past justices, including Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, have shared their opposition to court packing, Jackson cited Barrett’s response.

“Respectfully, senator, other nominees to the Supreme Court have responded as I will, which is that it is a policy question for Congress, and I am particularly mindful of not speaking to policy issues because I am so committed to staying in my lane of the system,” she said.

The Constitution allows Congress to decide how many justices sit on the Supreme Court. The court has had nine seats since 1869.

The idea of expanding the court came up after the Republican-controlled Senate refused to give President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland a confirmation hearing in 2016. It gained traction after the Senate confirmed President Donald Trump nominees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the court. It picked up further after Trump’s third conservative nominee, Barrett, was appointed.

Durbin said he was surprised that Republicans are raising the issue. There’s only one living senator who has changed the size of the court, and that is former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., when he refused to allow Garland a hearing, effectively shrinking the court to eight justices, Durbin said.

Related Stories

Tags

UtahU.S.Politics