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In the wake of the Supreme Court’s last term, which overturned Roe v. Wade, among other consequential, conservative rulings, Politico published a report Thursday on liberals upset that President Joe Biden hasn’t even tried to reform the court. much less expand it. The article, written by White House political correspondent Eugene Daniels, focused on members of a “bipartisan” panel of academics and judicial experts that Biden appointed in 2021 to study the Supreme Court and advise on reforms. According to Daniels, many of the people on that panel are frustrated that Biden has refused their recommendations for judicial reform and are giving him the “told you so” treatment after the court’s “right turn.” Daniels began, “The recommendations issued by this bipartisan commission were modest in scope, focusing on issues of transparency and ethics. Ultimately, they were brushed aside, ignored by a president who is largely resistant to large-scale reform.” JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS IS ‘OUR GREATEST LIVING AMERICAN,’ DESPITE CONTINUED ATTACKS FROM THE LEFT, AUTHOR SAYS Faith Adams of Bangor, Maine, protests abortion, Friday, June 24, 2022, outside the Supreme Court. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
He added, “Half a year later, some of the members who called for this bold action are saying, I told you so.” Daniels spoke with former U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner, one of the panel’s members, who said the Roe overturn and other recent decisions “vindicated her belief that more seats should be added to the nine-member bench.” Gertner said she is “deeply disappointed” that Biden has done nothing to stop the conservative majority court from doing “whatever it wanted to do.” The author spoke to others troubled by President Biden’s reluctance to heed reform recommendations, writing, “A growing number of voices on the left now say the Biden administration has profoundly underestimated the problems the conservative court presents.” Daniels quoted Harvard Law professor Lawrence Tribe as criticizing Biden, saying, “His admiration for the court as an institution has been overtaken by reality. And I think it’s time to wake up.” Tribe also lampooned the establishment, claiming, “It’s the court itself that has plunged ahead without restraint into a kind of highly activist, agenda-driven, right-wing ideological jihad.” The report also said how Biden staffers and White House aides “reject the idea that Biden is not sufficiently motivated to swing the court to the right.” They reported how he has “directly and repeatedly rebuked the court’s decision to overturn Roe” and called it “extremist” and “horrible” among other things. Although, as Daniels reported, Biden’s people are “playing down the idea that court expansion is the answer, framing it as a kind of political fad popular on the left but without roots in government reality.” Justices pose for their group photo at the Supreme Court on April 23, 2021. Seated, from left, are Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. Standing from left are Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File) ABORTION: MEDIA CONTINUES ‘DEcade-long liberal assault’ on JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS AFTER ROE V. WADE RULING Some of Biden’s less radical critics admit they didn’t think he would commit to expanding the court, but “they also want him to stop taking it off the table and criticize the court more forcefully and consistently.” Committee member Michael Klarman, a Harvard law professor, asked: “If you’re in a kind of game-theoretic situation with an adversary who starts acting in bad faith, what do you do?” “Do you continue to play by the rules and hope that will motivate them to return to the norms? Or do you respond in a feminine way and hopefully motivate [them] go back to traditional rules?’ he continued. He then criticized Biden’s strategy in dealing with the Supreme Court. “I think you’re a fool for not doing everything in your power to try to protect the system,” Klarman said, adding that Biden is “hopelessly naive.” Daniels also quoted Brian Fallon, executive director of the Supreme Court reform group Demand Justice, who asked, “Why does Joe Biden consider it his job to keep the public’s confidence in a court that is working full-time to overturn his agenda?” ?” Fallon questioned why Biden hasn’t done more to intimidate the court or the Republican Party into supporting his agenda. Politico reported on Supreme Court expansion advocates who are “disappointed” with Biden’s refusal to change the institution. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Why not put a little fear in the minds of the Republican justices on the court about what he might stand for once he takes office? Why not put a little fear in Mitch McConnell about what he might be?” Although Daniels added that it’s not all bad signs for Biden on his side of the issue. “Democrats and reformers gave Biden credit for embracing the filibuster on codifying Roe despite the fact that Democrats didn’t have the votes to do so,” he said. Gabriel Hays is a contributing editor at Fox News. Follow him on Twitter at @gabrieljhays.