Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told Newsmax Friday that he agrees with President Joe Biden's commission studying changes to the U.S. Supreme Court that adding justices could prove damaging.
"There's no doubt that if you went from nine to thirteen overnight that would reduce the credibility of the court," Whitaker told Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "I think nine is a good number. Obviously, liberals don't like how the court breaks down right now, but this is something that has changed certainly over the years and will continue to change as judges come off and go on the court."
The Biden commission on the court warned through nonbinding documents Thursday that expanding the court would be seen as a "partisan maneuver."
The draft materials that released by the commission will be used for debate by the panel, which will then prepare a report for Biden by mid-November.
Whitaker said the commission "obviously slants very liberal" and that Biden picked its members to help him produce a political report.
He also said the commission's meeting over its final report will be "vey stage-managed" and will also address other issues, such as term limits for justices.
"This is as if the president would call a committee and say, 'let's see how we could redo the congress and make it more liberal or more conservative," said Whitaker, adding that the Supreme Court is "not broken."
He continued that there are arguments both for and against setting an age cap for justices, as well as term limits. Lifetime appointments do take some of the political obligations off the table, but at the same time, a long-term limit, of 18 or 24 years, seems appropriate, he noted.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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