CNN’s Lemon: Asking Biden, Harris about ‘hypothetical’ court packing ‘not a legitimate question’

CNN’s Don Lemon argued late Monday that questioning Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden or his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) about court packing is not “legitimate” because it is based on a “hypothetical,” with the anchor adding that he feels the issue is a “distraction from the Republicans and the president.”

Lemon made his case during a handoff with anchor Chris Cuomo while discussing last week’s vice presidential debate between Harris and Vice President Pence. The event’s moderator, Susan Page, did not broach the topic, prompting Pence to ask Harris directly if she would pack the Supreme Court.

“It’s not a legitimate question in that during the debate, the vice president raised the question, the moderator didn’t raise the question. This is a hypothetical,” Lemon said. “Joe Biden has said twice, at least on tape that I’ve seen, how he feels about court packing. And I feel it’s a distraction from the Republicans and the president.”

“Then why doesn’t he answer it?” Cuomo asked.

“Because he doesn’t have to,” Lemon replied.

“Well, he doesn’t have to ‘answer’ anything,” Cuomo said. “You don’t think it’s going to affect people’s trust quotient?”

“No, no because people aren’t worried about that,” Lemon argued. “People are concerned about, if you want to know specifically about the court, people are concerned about the Republicans switching and being hypocrites in saying ‘This is an election year.’ That’s what people are concerned about.”

“People are also concerned about where they’re gonna get their health care from, are they gonna die from COVID, they’re worried about their preexisting conditions,” Lemon said before later adding, “I think it’s a red herring because you don’t want to talk about how [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell has packed the court over the years. Mitch McConnell has packed the courts, so if you want to ask about packing the courts, why don’t you ask Mitch McConnell?”

“[Packing the Supreme Court] is never, ever, ever going to happen,” Lemon concluded.

The perspective comes as Biden continues to be pressed on the topic of expanding the Supreme Court if elected. On Friday, the former vice president was asked by a reporter in Las Vegas about the issue and if voters deserved to have an answer on it.

“Don’t the voters deserve to know where you stand on court packing?” the reporter asked.

“No, they don’t deserve,” Biden retorted. “I’m not going to play his [President Trump’s] game.”

Biden later told a Cincinnati TV station that he’s “not a fan” of expanding the court.

“I’m not a fan of court packing, but I don’t want to get off on that whole issue. I want to keep focused,” he said on Monday. “The president would like nothing better than to fight about whether or not I would in fact pack the court or not pack the court, et cetera. The focus is, why is he doing what he’s doing now?”

Just 32 percent of adults support increasing the number of Supreme Court justices, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released this week.