Trump says Supreme Court will have aided a Biden win

President Trump on Friday sought to preemptively place blame on the Supreme Court should he lose reelection and said that Democratic nominee Joe Biden would pack the high court with “radical left” justices if he wins the White House.

Trump’s tweets followed a handful of rulings by the Supreme Court in cases involving deadlines for mail-in ballots in the 2020 elections.

The Supreme Court handed two victories to Democrats in election-related legal disputes this week in allowing extended deadlines to remain in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, two critical swing states.

“If Sleepy Joe Biden is actually elected President, the 4 Justices (plus1) that helped make such a ridiculous win possible would be relegated to sitting on not only a heavily PACKED COURT, but probably a REVOLVING COURT as well,” Trump tweeted early Friday morning. “At least the many new Justices will be Radical Left!”

If Sleepy Joe Biden is actually elected President, the 4 Justices (plus1) that helped make such a ridiculous win possible would be relegated to sitting on not only a heavily PACKED COURT, but probably a REVOLVING COURT as well. At least the many new Justices will be Radical Left!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2020

Trump in an earlier tweet also claimed that Biden would “destroy” the Supreme Court and warned: “Don’t let this happen!”

Biden will destroy the United States Supreme Court. Don’t let this happen!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2020

Biden has sidestepped questions about whether he would support adding to the number of justices on the Supreme Court, often referred to as court packing.

The former vice president said in a “60 Minutes” interview last week that he would convene a bipartisan commission to present recommendations to reform the court system, calling it “out of whack.” 

Trump has consistently trailed Biden in national polling as Election Day approaches. Biden has also polled ahead in key battleground states.

The president has long railed against efforts to expand mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic, claiming that doing so would invite massive fraud. Experts say there is no evidence of meaningful electoral fraud in mail-in voting.

Republicans received a victory in Minnesota on Thursday when a federal appeals court ruled that the state must keep late-arriving ballots separate in case they are ruled invalid.

Earlier this week, the president made clear he hoped the courts would rule in favor of Republicans and stop efforts to extend the deadline for receiving mail ballots beyond Election Day. Polls show that Democrats are more likely to use mail-in voting, while Republicans are more likely to vote in person.

“Hopefully the few states remaining that want to take a lot of time after Nov. 3 to count ballots, that won’t be allowed by the various courts,” Trump told reporters Wednesday before the rulings in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Minnesota were handed down.

The rulings in Pennsylvania and North Carolina will allow ballots that are not postmarked after Election Day and that arrive three and nine days after Election Day, respectively, to be counted. In a separate ruling that represented a win for Republicans, the Supreme Court kept in place a Nov. 3 deadline in Wisconsin for the receipt of mail ballots.

In a tweet later Friday, Trump singled out the decision on mail ballots in North Carolina, labeling it “CRAZY” and insisting the election “END” on Nov. 3.

Updated at 1:11 p.m.