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Biden says he will appoint bipartisan commission on Supreme Court reform

22 October 2020
 Dan Ackermann

Joe Biden told CBS' "60 Minutes" this week that if elected, he would put together a bipartisan commission to study the federal court system and make recommendations for reform.

Why it matters: Biden has come under pressure to clarify his position on court packing after some Democrats suggested expanding the court if Senate Republicans confirm President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

What he's saying: "If elected, what I will do is I'll put together a national commission of  — bipartisan commission of scholars, constitutional scholars, Democrats, Republicans, liberal, conservative," Biden told "60 Minutes" in an interview conducted on Monday.

  • "I will ask them to over 180 days come back to me with recommendations as to how to reform the court system because it's getting out of whack — the way in which it's being handled and it's not about court packing."
  • "There's a number of other things that our constitutional scholars have debated and I've looked to see what recommendations that commission might make." 
  • "There's a number of alternatives that are — go well beyond packing, ... The last thing we need to do is turn the Supreme Court into just a political football, whoever has the most votes gets whatever they want. Presidents come and go. Supreme Court justices stay for generations."  

Between the lines: Biden had previously opposed court-packing during the Democratic primaries, but Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death and Barrett's nomination re-energized support for the idea among progressives.

  • Last week, he said during a town hall that he would come out with a clear position on court packing by Election Day, but that his answer on the issue will depend on how the Barrett's confirmation is "handled."

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.