A proposed constitutional amendment, introduced this week, mandates the nation’s highest court consists of one chief justice and eight associate justices.
The U.S. Supreme Court has been represented by nine justices for 157 years, since 1868, when Congress approved the Judiciary Act.
The reason the GOP proposal is being called a stunt is because it frankly won’t pass on Capitol Hill. The amendment requires a two-thirds supermajority to pass, and the GOP majority is currently hanging on to power by only a few seats.
Rep. Andy Harris, discussing the amendment on the “Washington Watch” program, said it’s not a political stunt to demand his Democratic colleagues take a stance on adding seats to the high court.
“We'll see how many Democrats want to change the Supreme Court because they don't like the composition,” Harris said.
His comment summarized what is an overtly political demand by Democrats to add more seats to add liberal justices. That demand has been described as “reforming” the high court, even though Democrats’ frustration stems from rulings that conflict with their own beliefs and set back their political agendas.
Over the last five years, the high court’s right-leaning 6-3 majority has ruled on abortion, gun laws, parental rights, religious liberty, affirmative action, presidential immunity, mail-in election ballots, and race-based congressional boundaries.
Each ruling, which changed the country’s legal landscape, has been met with howls of protest from fuming Democrats. The right-leaning justices have been called everything from “MAGA extremists” and “corrupt” to “fascists” by Democrats in Congress and their livid political base.
In a 2021 Boston Globe op-ed, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (pictured below) wrote the current court “threatens the democratic foundations of our nation.”
“Without reform,” Warren further wrote, “the court’s 6-3 conservative supermajority will continue to threaten basic liberties for decades to come.”
The constitutional amendment, introduced by Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), was scheduled for a floor vote after Republican leadership scheduled it under a “suspension of the rules” House procedure.
The fast-tracked vote was scheduled soon after a prominent Democrat, Rep. James Clyburn, called for Congress to expand the court to a whopping 13 justices.
Clyburn was asked on “Meet the Press” if he agreed with Kamala Harris, the former vice president, who supports expanding the court’s number of justices.
“Yes, I do,” Rep. Clyburn told show host Kristen Welker.
“I think we are in a position now that calls for some significant actions taken by the Congress and we ought to expand, and 13 is a pretty good number,” the Congressman said.
Clyburn also compared the current court and its rulings to Justice Roger Taney, who wrote the majority opinion in the Dred Scott decision in 1857.
Back on "Washington Watch," Rep. Harris recalled when Republicans and conservatives witnessed a liberal-leaning court issue rulings 15 years ago. There was no effort by the Right, he said, to expand the court to counter those decisions.
"The bottom line is that, unfortunately, when the leftists don't like what's going on, it's very simple: they just change the rules," he said.
