To find out if this type of court-packing is legal, The Verify team looked to the Constitution, with some help from Adam Levitin, a professor at The Georgetown University Law Center.

Abraham Lincoln confirmed his opponents’ worst suspicions when he moved against the Supreme Court by signing the Judiciary Act of 1862, adding a 10th justice to the court. It seems to me both sides see feeling cheated as a thing they want. In early 1837, President Andrew Jackson was able to add two additional Justices after Congress again expanded the number of federal circuit court districts. So why are there nine seats on the Court, and who set that precedent? Change ). The GOP not only holds the presidency but also a majority in the Senate, which puts them even more in control. Fast forward: As a attempt to convince Biden he won’t need to pack the court, I look for Obamacare to be continued by the new Court on November 10, I believe it is. We need a constitutional amendment that will set the court at a number level that will be high enough so that one justice rarely tips the scale. Now it is time for them to sleep in it.
Does the Constitution allow for the number of Supreme Court justices to be changed? Those in the party of Trump will thus be forced to present themselves as the protectors of America’s political norms in opposing such an act. If Biden wins, he will have so much on his plate just trying to undo all the damage that Trump has wrought that expanding the SCOTUS may not be the first thing on his agenda. The second president, John Adams, reduced that number to five. Manchen, for one, probably wouldn’t.
The act also divided the country into judicial districts, which were in turn organized into circuits. It’s just - that’s where we’ve set the number historically.”. So don’t hold your breath, no matter who is elected. In 1789, the First Judiciary Act set the number of justices to six. Vice President Joe Biden told the author that during the transition, “seven different Republican Senators” told him that “McConnell had demanded unified resistance.” This was after the 2008 election but before Obama and Biden took office. Media carrying freight for rich Republicans began with Jimmy Carter who was America’s last good president. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/supreme-court-pennsylvania-election-late-ballots.html. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The Verify team looked into whether Congress can change the number of Supreme Court justices. Thanks in part to these maneuvers, the party of Lincoln would control the highest court in the land for the remainder of the 19th century and for the first 40 years of the next century. Add 2 more justices - impeach Kavanaugh, just a short list https://t.co/kpacw3flOF. Soon, changing voting patterns on the Court along with vacancies made the Court Packing plan a moot point. How would Barrett respond to such slander? Exceptionally informative. However, The Constitution does not say anything about the specific number of Justices. Domestic demands, too, are screaming for attention. In the aftermath of the death of longtime Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, attention has immediately turned toward the nomination process for a possible replacement. groused publicly nine months after being sworn, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/supreme-court-pennsylvania-election-late-ballots.html, Washington Post Fact-Checker: Trump Passes 22,000 False Claims, Now Averaging 50 per Day, Montana: Libertarians Fight Masks While Infections Rise, Betsy DeVos Tells Kentucky That Now is the Time for Charters and Vouchers, The Absurdity of Privatizing Essential Government Services, Robert Shepherd’s Glossary of Adjectives to Describe Trump, Trump’s Radical Attack on the Federal Civil Service, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Explains Dark Money and Its Corruption of Our Democracy, The Most Important Radical Rightwing Group You Never Heard of, John Thompson: Instead of Funding Public Schools, Oklahoma Bankrolled a For-Profit Virtual Charter, The Reading Wars Are Over!

Many liberals, hopeful for a 2020 victory in the presidential election, have proposed a way to reverse such a conservative majority. The legislation struggled to gain traction, and it was opposed not only by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes but also by the liberal Justice Louis Brandeis. The founding document “doesn’t change over time,” Barrett exclaimed, “and it isn’t up to me to update or infuse my own policy views into it.” By that standard and the actions of the Founding Fathers, there is no good-faith constitutional argument against the future addition of Supreme Court justices. Some have recommended that a Democratic-lead Senate, if they were to take a majority, could add more justices to the court. These men were, after all, present at the creation of our constitutional republic. Given such a powerful legacy, originalists, Republican politicians and right-wing bloggers would never dare suggest that adjusting the Supreme Court’s size was anything other than constitutional and consistent with the republic’s oldest traditions.

The Constitution does not say how many seats there should be on the Supreme Court. In the end, this effort failed. In 1801, President John Adams and a lame-duck Federalist Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1801, which reduced the Court to five Justices in an attempt to limit incoming President Thomas Jefferson’s appointments to the high bench. as you know, Greg, nothin’ to worry about from theocracy. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. She attended Lakeland Christian School and Covenant College. He was made to look bad by media. Although im not sure if that would be a good or bad thing. The second president, John Adams, reduced that number to five.