Biden Refuses To Release List Of Supreme Court Contenders

It’s no secret that Republicans take filling judgeships much more seriously than Democrats. President Trump released his first list of prospective Supreme Court nominees before he was even elected, back in September 2016, and – in what was taken at the time as a grim harbinger of RBG’s condition – released his most recent revisions/additions earlier this month, just days before RBG died.

But in the latest indication of just how low a priority selecting Supreme Court judges has been for Democrats – after all, they’re not even in power, right? – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is reportedly refusing to release a list of potential nominees, should he ever get the opportunity to fill the vacancy left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

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Politico reported last night that Biden is taking a “cautious” approach to filling the position. After making his initial statement on Saturday, the Biden campaign has shut down public activity, while Biden and his team retreat to the basement.

Meanwhile, the Trump Campaign has been upping the pressure, calling on Biden to release a list of names. Democrats, including President Obama, have demanded that Republicans delay filling the seat until after the election. Mitch McConnell infamously killed the nomination of Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, by refusing to bring a vote to the floor.

While Biden himself was silent publicly, his campaign was laying plans to shift the focus of the looming Supreme Court nomination fight toward a referendum on the Affordable Care Act, according to his advisers. The high court is scheduled to hear the fate of Obamacare after the election.

Against that backdrop Saturday, President Trump’s campaign and even some Democrats demanded that Biden release his own list of potential court nominees — which Biden has steadfastly refused to do. Nor has Biden addressed the mounting pressure in his party to take a position on abolishing the Senate filibuster or packing the U.S. Supreme Court if Senate Republicans confirm Trump’s nominee before Inauguration Day. Biden has opposed ending the filibuster outright and court-packing in the past, though in July he expressed an openness to consider eliminating the filibuster.

Of course, Democrats and Biden’s allies indignantly accused the GOP of disrespecting the morning period for RBG’s passing.

“That’s sort of a wasted conversation because that concedes defeat right now. And the last thing we should be doing is analyzing how we’re going to recover from this loss,” said Hilary Rosen, an outside Biden campaign adviser and vice president at the SKDKnickerbocker firm, where top Biden adviser Anita Dunn is managing partner.

“Today is an RBG-fired engine. There’s nothing Joe Biden can say today to fire us up more,” Rosen said, adding that Biden also paused from publicly campaigning out of respect for Ginsburg’s passing.

As Politico explained, Biden is being ‘cautious’ because he doesn’t want to get sucked into a Twitter feud with Trump over the nominees. But to Republicans, it looks like just another example of Biden dropping the ball. After all, they should have seen this coming, right?