President Biden spoke next to former President Barack Obama on stage during a campaign fundraiser in Los Angeles on June 15.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
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Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
LOS ANGELES – President Biden on Saturday night said he expected the winner of this year’s presidential election would likely have the opportunity to fill two vacancies on the Supreme Court – a decision he warned against will be “one of the scariest parts” if his Republican opponent, Former President Donald Trump, is trying to run for a second term.
Biden made the comments at a fundraiser where his campaign said it raised a record $28 million. The event featured Hollywood stars such as George Clooney and Julia Roberts, as well as former President Barack Obama.
Late night host Jimmy Kimmel moderates the conversation with Biden and Obama, and the two presidents talk about Trump’s impact on issues like abortion rights by appointing conservative justices to the Court Supreme.
“The next president will likely have two new nominees to the Supreme Court. Two more. He appointed two people who have a very negative view of individual rights,” Biden said. Trump appointed three justices during his term – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanagh and Amy Coney Barrett – cementing a conservative majority on the bench.
Biden, who flew to Los Angeles shortly after attending the G7 summit in Italy, did not elaborate on how the two vacancies on the field would play out.
At the fundraiser, Biden mentioned one recent report on Justice Samuel AlitoHis wife hung an upside-down American flag outside their home after some Trump supporters carried the flag upside down during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
“The idea that if he (Trump) gets reelected, he can appoint two more people, fly the flag upside down…” Biden said. Kimmel asked Biden if that would be “the scariest part” of Trump’s second term. “I think that’s one of the scariest parts,” Biden responded.
Biden filled a Supreme Court vacancy during his term, nominating Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black woman to serve on the court.
This is the second time Biden has recently mentioned potential future vacancies on the court. He said during a campaign rally last month that he would appoint “progressive judges” to fill vacancies. “The next president — they will be able to appoint a few judges,” Biden said in Philadelphia as he began his effort to woo Black voters.
“Look: if we could, in fact, change some of the justices as they retire and put in really progressive justices like we have been doing, tell me that wouldn’t change your life as Trump’s judges are voting right, overturning fish eggsreduce affirmative action, etc.,” he said of that event.
