Duckworth not opposed to Supreme Court expansion, but not supporting it now

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said on Sunday she is not ready to support the effort to expand the U.S. Supreme Court, but did not rule out the possibility of backing expansion in the future.

“I think I’m not opposed to court expansion, but I’m not certainly there where I would support it at this point in time,” Duckworth told NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press.”

Duckworth praised the senior senator from her state, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, who Duckworth said is rightly focused on confirming judges at all levels to ensure “we have folks in place who can be elevated to the Supreme Court” when openings occur.

“I think what we need to do is what we’re continuing to do, and my senior senator from Illinois, Sen. Durbin, is doing a great job of confirming justices to all of the various levels of federal benches so that we have folks in place who can be elevated to the Supreme Court who are not going to be the activist judges like Neil Gorsuch,” Duckworth said, referring to the Supreme Court justice who was nominated by former President Trump.

“We need to take a look at where we’re going in terms of confirming judiciary appointments all across the country,” Duckworth added later.

Efforts to expand the U.S. Supreme Court have increased in the past year, especially since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which took away the federal right to an abortion. Many have begun to see the court as increasingly political, and public confidence in the court is at historic lows.

While some progressive Democrats are pushing for court expansion, many in the party still remain hesitant to endorse the idea.

President Biden appointed a commission to examine the merits of expanding the Supreme Court at the beginning of his term. The presidential commission endorsed no specific solution, but many members of the team have since pushed for court expansion.

Biden has made clear he does not back court expansion, saying in a recent interview that he thinks the young and conservative justices “may do too much harm.”

“But I think if we start the process of trying to expand the court, we’re going to politicize it maybe forever in a way that’s not healthy,” he added in the interview.

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