October 7, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Vice President Mike Pence and Democrat vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris squared off on abortion and the Supreme Court during Wednesday night’s 2020 vice presidential debate, culimating in Pence confronting Harris on her and running mate Joe Biden’s refusal to answer whether they would engage in court-packing should they win.
“President Trump and I could not be more enthusiastic” about Judge Amy Coney Barrett, Pence said, calling President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg a “brilliant woman.”
“We hope she gets a fair hearing, and particularly hope we don't see the attacks on her Christian faith that we saw before,” Pence added, referencing how Senate Democrats attacked Barrett in 2017 for the way, as Sen. Dianne Feinstein put it, “the dogma lives loudly within you.”
Though he demurred on the subject of how Barrett might rule on Roe v. Wade, Pence added that he “couldn’t be more proud” to serve a pro-life administration, and slammed the Biden-Harris ticket’s support for effectively unlimited abortion at taxpayer expense.
Without addressing the specific comments Pence cited, Harris responded that “Joe Biden and I are both people of faith, and it’s insulting to suggest we would knock anyone for their faith.” She went so far as to claim that the ardently pro-abortion, pro-LGBT Biden would be the “second practicing Catholic” president in American history.
Harris also called for waiting until after the election to decide whether Trump or Biden gets to fill the Supreme Court vacancy, but instead of elaborating on abortion she pivoted to the possibility that a more conservative Supreme Court might overturn the so-called Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
The most intense portion of the exchange, however, came when Pence brought up the threat of Democrats adding more seats to the nine-person court should they win, better known as court-packing. Biden refused to answer the question in his debate with Trump last week.
“I think the American people really deserve an answer, Senator Harris: are you and Joe Biden going to pack the court if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed?” Pence asked.
Harris repeatedly changed the subject, leading Pence to conclude before the segment ended: “If you haven’t figured it out yet, the answer is they are going to pack the court.”