Biden Says Supreme Court Hurt Credibility, But Shouldn’t Expand

President Joe Biden said the Supreme Court’s legitimacy is being called into doubt, but said he still opposes expanding the bench or other large-scale reforms.

Biden said Thursday it would be a “mistake” to add justices to the high court because it would “politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy.” The president, however, expressed optimism justices could make changes on their own to improve the court’s standing.

WATCH: President Biden says he “strongly, strongly disagrees” with the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action.

Source: Bloomberg

“I think that some of the court are beginning to realize their legitimacy is being questioned in ways that hadn’t been questioned in the past,” Biden said in an MSNBC interview.

Read More: ‘Not a Normal Court,’ Biden Says After Affirmative Action Ruling

The president offered some of his sharpest criticism of the Supreme Court earlier in the day after a majority struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions.

“It’s done more to unravel basic rights and basic decisions than any court in recent history,” Biden said when asked to explain his comment that the court was “not normal.”

Earlier: An Aggressive Supreme Court Reshapes US as Its Standing Erodes

Biden said the conservative-majority court, which has overridden precedents to strike down the nationwide right to an abortion, curb environmental protections and restrict gun laws, is “out of sorts with the basic value system of the American people.”

“Across the board, the vast majority of the American people don’t agree with a lot of the decisions this court is making,” the president said.

--With assistance from Akayla Gardner, Jennifer Jacobs, Stephanie Lai and Ryan Teague Beckwith.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Jordan Fabian in Washington at jfabian6@bloomberg.net;
Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Mario Parker at mparker22@bloomberg.net

Kathleen Hunter, Meghashyam Mali

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