Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, criticized the Biden administration’s approach to Supreme Court reform, saying it had been reluctant to publicly discuss problems he believes affect the court’s integrity.
Whitehouse made the comments in an interview with The Lever’s David Sirota. Asked what resistance to the court might look like if a Democratic president viewed it as enabling an anti-democratic project, Whitehouse said a president should speak publicly about what he sees as wrong with the judiciary.
He faulted President Joe Biden for creating a commission to examine the Supreme Court, arguing that the administration did not allow some commission members to air their concerns in its report. Whitehouse named former federal judge Nancy Gertner and Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, saying they had sought to describe problems at the court. He said Biden appeared to address the court’s integrity only near the end of his presidency, in a speech delivered after he and Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election.
Gertner and Tribe were among the 34 members of Biden’s Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court. In a December 2021 Washington Post opinion piece, they argued Congress should increase the number of justices. The commission itself took no position on expanding the court.
Whitehouse has advocated for Supreme Court ethics legislation and has argued that the court has been captured by wealthy conservative interests. Those are Whitehouse’s characterizations; the supplied report does not provide a response from the justices or evidence establishing the claims.
Harris also endorsed expanding the Supreme Court in comments published Wednesday in an interview on Keke Palmer’s podcast. She said the country needed additional justices to reinforce the Constitution’s principles. Harris also supported considering changes to the Electoral College and pursuing statehood for Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
Her remarks followed comments by former Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her 2024 running mate, who had warned of a reckoning within the Democratic Party if it failed to deliver on structural changes and other promises after regaining power, according to the source report.
Andrew Stoltmann, an adjunct law professor at Northwestern, told Fox News Digital that expanding the court or changing its structure would be extraordinarily difficult. He said a constitutional amendment would require approval by two-thirds of both chambers of Congress and ratification by 38 states. He characterized that path as highly unlikely and said legislation to change the court’s size or impose term limits would also face substantial obstacles.
The Biden office did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, the source reported. The article provides no response from Biden or the administration to Whitehouse’s criticism.
