Roe v. Wade's demise has refueled liberals' desire to add more Democrat-appointed seats to the Supreme Court. But a new organization called the Keep Nine Coalition is backing a constitutional amendment that would fix the number of justices at nine.
The bipartisan group of former state attorneys general formed the Coalition last year to preserve the independence of the United States Supreme Court. Of the original 15 AGs, eight were Democrats and seven were Republican. Now the Keep Nine Amendment has the support of more than 200 members of Congress, over 20 U.S. Senate candidates, and a growing list of others.
"This is a constitutional amendment that would prevent or be a firewall against what is commonly called court packing," says Judge Paul Summers, chairman of the Coalition. "It consists only of 13 words: The Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine justices."
The last president who tried to pack the court was Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. He needed a win at the Supreme Court to keep his New Deal and threatened to add six more justices – all appointed by himself – to make it happen. His own party, however, saw the danger and intervened.
Judge Summers says he can understand why a president of either party might want to take the shortcut.
"The party in power, they will be prone sometimes to want to institute court packing so that they can replace [justices] so they can get opinions that they like. Well, that's just a sugar high," he submits.
The judge adds that packing the Supreme Court would set a precedent that would lead to absurdity, of which he says there is already an abundance in Washington, D.C.
"35, 40 years from now, some little girl or some little boy at Thanksgiving will ask his granddaddy, "Granddaddy, why do we have 31 justices on the United States Supreme Court?'" he poses.
The Coalition urges all Americans, regardless of party, to join the grassroots network and endorse the amendment, ensuring that the high court remains "an independent guardian of our rights and freedoms for future generations."
