Is Expanding the Supreme Court Really the Right Answer?

On April 11th, four Democratic members of Congress introduced legislation that would add four seats to the Supreme Court, which, if passed, would allow President Biden to immediately name nominees to fill those seats and give Democrats a 7-6 majority. Although the Constitution provides that there must be a Supreme Court, it leaves the question of how many justices are appointed to the Court under the jurisdiction of Congress. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789, the Court originally had six seats, and it briefly had 10 seats under President Lincoln. 

Realistically, the bill is unlikely to pass anytime soon. Until recently, adding seats to the Supreme Court was considered a very radical tactic. President Biden has in the past expressed reluctance to add seats to the Court. "It's not about court-packing," Biden said in early April when asked about the committee. "There's a number of other things that our constitutional scholars have debated... The last thing we need to do is turn the Supreme Court into just a political football, whoever has the most votes gets whatever they want. Presidents come and go. Supreme Court justices stay for generations."

The difference between introducing a bill, which any member of Congress can do, and this piece of legislation having any realistic chance of passing, is stark. The new court expansion bill would effectively neutralize a half-decade of work done by Republicans to manipulate the Senate confirmation process in order to ensure GOP control of the nation’s highest court. As such, it is highly unlikely that the court expansion bill could wrangle the 60 votes to ultimately pass the piece of legislation. Additionally, given the makeup of the seats in the House, the bill would most likely not even pass the House where Democrats have the majority. “Overall, there's a reason that the composition of the seats on the court hasn't changed since 1869 -- and why 2021 isn't going to be the year it happens.”

The courts have a big role to play in creating the next generation  of jurisprudence. Packing the court could lead to substantial change that many reliable voters won’t confidently support. Additionally, adding four new seats to the court could also hurt the integrity of the branch, in terms of the efficiency and quality of the court’s work, which would be bad for its credibility and public legitimacy.” Given the information surrounding the courts, assessment of the situation is that expanding the court is unlikely to happen anytime soon. It is important to keep in mind that these decisions may not achieve the intentions its intendors hope it will. 

Catelin Bromfield is a 17 year old junior at the Ethical Culture Fieldston school in the Bronx, NY. Her huge passions are journalism and political science and she enjoys being a part of Next Generation Politics Civic Fellow and writing for the blog!