AUSTIN, Texas — The leak of the U.S. Supreme Court's draft opinion suggesting the justices would overturn Roe v. Wade has some congressional Democrats calling on their colleagues to pass legislation that preserves abortion rights.
Some Democrats in the House of Representatives have already been calling for a court expansion before the leak, but now they're putting more pressure on President Joe Biden because of it.
Right now, the Supreme Court sits with a six justices appointed by Republican administrations versus three Democrat-appointed ones. To balance it out, some call to add more justices, but legislative efforts to do that likely won't get through congress.
President Biden hasn't given a recent indication that he would support packing the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the president has no updated position on such an expansion.
"The 30-member commission, with a diversity of views, put together a report that the president has been reviewing, so we have no update on his position," said Psaki.
University of Texas Constitutional Law Professor Richard Albert said there are two reasons why President Biden is hesitant, including his belief in the importance of SCOTUS being an apolitical institution.
"It might not be that today, but he believes in that," said Albert. "The second reason is about the consequences ... the Democratic Party will not always be in control of Congress. Sometimes it's going to be the Republican Party, and then they will just pack the Court some more. It's going to be tit for tat, tit for tat."
However, President Biden and other Democrats are renewing a push to codify Roe v. Wade to make it law. Still, a significant roadblock to that is the filibuster in the Senate and removing that looks unlikely at the moment.
This is all happening before the Supreme Court issues its official ruling on Roe v. Wade. The Court is expected to release it in about two months. Until then, justices can still change their opinions.
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