SC Senate hopeful Harrison says packing court, ending filibuster open Pandora’s box
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jaime Harrison said he would be hesitant about changing the filibuster or expanding the U.S. Supreme Court, ideas some Democrats have floated as Republicans prepare to confirm a Trump appointee less than a month before the presidential election.
“There are ramifications for what you do when you open up Pandora’s box. And so I, I don’t want to change the filibuster (and) I don’t believe that we should change the Supreme Court at this point in time,” Harrison said while speaking during an event hosted by the Post and Courier.
Harrison, who is challenging three-term Republican incumbent Lindsey Graham, then added a qualifier to his response:
“Now let me say if folks are starting to say, well ‘Plessy vs. Ferguson needs to be established law again,’ well, let me tell you as a Black man who grew up in the south, I won’t let that happen,” Harrison said referring to the Supreme Court decision that said racial segregation was constitutional under the separate but equal doctrine, which the Supreme Court later overturned in its landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, finding racial segregation in schools unconstitutional.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, has said “everything is on the table” if Democrats win a majority in the Senate.
Some Democrats are discussing expanding the court beyond nine justices as a way to counter conservative justices on the Supreme Court, and former President Barack Obama has called for an end to the filibuster, a requirement that any piece of legislation in the Senate receive 60 votes to move forward in the chamber.
“I’ve always thought of the Supreme Court as nine,” Harrison said. “I have never thought of it more than nine, so that’s that’s where I am at this point in time.”
Filling Ginsburg’s seat
Harrison also said Democrats would be right to fill a seat on the Supreme Court in 2024, if Joe Biden is president and Democrats hold a majority in the Senate, and a vacancy came up.
Harrison said Republicans are setting a standard on whether Supreme Court nominees should be considered during the last year of a president’s term.
Graham, who serves as the Judiciary Committee chairman, is moving forward with confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Judge nominee Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg starting on Monday, with hopes of completing the process before the election.
It is a reversal of opinion for Republicans, who did not consider Obama-nominee Merrick Garland to replace Antonin Scalia, even though Scalia’s death occurred many months before the election. Republicans argued in 2016 that a Supreme Court nominee should not be considered during the last year of a president’s term.
“I am about the rules and the standards that we have set,” Harrison said. “So if this is good for you, then it’s going to be good for me, right, because that is the standard and all I’m saying is, folks, just stick to your word.”
Harrison also did not say whether he would vote for Barrett based on her qualifications.
“I would love to have an opportunity to ask her some questions. I mean, some of the things that I’m really concerned about as it relates to the Supreme Court is, are you going to roll back the civil rights of folks,” Harrison said. “Where do you stand in terms of Brown versus Board of Education? Or do you feel that we need to roll that back? Where do you stand as relates to marriage equality, or do you feel like we need to roll back on that?”
Graham and Harrison meet again Friday for the second of three scheduled U.S. Senate debates.
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 3:12 PM with the headline "SC Senate hopeful Harrison says packing court, ending filibuster open Pandora’s box."
