Senator Whitehouse Accuses Biden Administration of 'Chickening Out' on Supreme Court Reform

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., has accused the Biden administration of being "completely chicken" regarding Supreme Court reform and criticized the establishment of a presidential commission on the matter as "lame." Whitehouse expressed these sentiments in an interview discussing potential responses to the Supreme Court's perceived actions.

Whitehouse argued that the chief executive should utilize the "bully pulpit" to address issues with the courts. He stated that the Biden administration was "highly reluctant" to do so and "completely chickened out" by setting up a commission that, according to him, suppressed concerns about the court's integrity. He suggested that President Biden only seemed to recognize the court's "integrity problem" late in his term, after facing electoral losses.

Former President Biden's Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court included members like Nancy Gertner and Laurence Tribe. In December 2021, Gertner and Tribe wrote an opinion piece in The Washington Post advocating for an increase in the number of Supreme Court justices. This call came after the commission itself took no definitive stance on court expansion.

Whitehouse has been a vocal advocate for Supreme Court ethics legislation, asserting that the court has been influenced by "right-wing billionaires and special interests." ## Vice President Harris's Stance

Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris has recently voiced support for expanding the Supreme Court, alongside other significant institutional changes such as Electoral College reform. During an appearance on the "Baby, This is Keke Palmer" podcast, Harris stated, "I believe that we need to expand the Supreme Court. We need more justices on the Supreme Court so that we can have a court that actually reinforces the spirit and principles behind the Constitution of the United States."

Her remarks align with calls for structural change within the Democratic party, with some warning of a potential "reckoning" if such changes are not pursued following electoral victories. ## Challenges to Court Reform

However, some legal experts view court reform proposals with skepticism. Andrew Stoltmann, an adjunct law professor at Northwestern, told Fox News Digital that altering the Supreme Court's composition through a constitutional amendment is highly improbable due to the demanding vote thresholds in Congress and state legislatures. He described arguments for such a possibility as "a pipe dream" and "nothing more than something to get their base excited about."

Stoltmann explained that a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, followed by ratification by 38 of the 50 state legislatures, a process he deems "almost impossible" given current political divisions. He suggested that statutory legislation, such as increasing the number of seats or imposing term limits, would also face extraordinary difficulty. The Biden administration did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.