Freshman lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., says the retirement of Supreme Court 82-year-old Justice Stephen Breyer should “absolutely” be considered to allow President Joe Biden to name a successor before the 20224 presidential elections.
“You know, it’s something I think about, but I would probably lean towards yes," Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked if Breyer should retire at the end of this Supreme Court term. “But yes, you're asking me this question so I've just — I would give more thought to it, but I'm inclined to say yes,”
Democrats don’t want a repeat of the 2020 election where Senate Republicans voted to confirm former President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett less than two weeks before the presidential election.
Barret replaced Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died at 87.
“We have had very difficult experiences with making, I believe the opposite mistake, and especially if Senate Democrats are not going to pass reforms on HR 1, we cannot rely solely on a wish of winning elections, particularly in the Senate when voting rights are under attack in Georgia, Arizona and Texas across the country,” Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN.
“And if we're not going to pass HR 1 with the preemptive clauses that can roll some of that voter suppression attacks back, yeah, I believe that we should protect our Supreme Court and I bet that should absolutely be a consideration.”
Also known as the For the People Act, HR1 was the first bill on the House floor after Democrats retook the chamber in the 2018 elections. (The Senate version is known as S1.)
The bill does a little about a lot of topics. It changes the way people vote by automatically registering every eligible citizen, guaranteeing mail and early in-person voting options in every state and effectively neutering voter identification laws.
The legislation would also establish bipartisan commissions to draw the lines for legislative districts and require redistricting not favor either major party. The provision has the potential to create scores of newly competitive districts and, supporters say, would combat the partisan polarization in the House.
The bill would provide $6 in public money to campaigns for every $1 in small-dollar donations they raise. Finally, it would require groups currently shielded from disclosing their donors to identify their funders. The last provision targets a 2010 Supreme Court ruling, known as the Citizens United decision, that lets “dark money” groups hide their contributors even while getting involved in elections.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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