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Mike Johnson Just Made the Case for Expanding the Supreme Court
slate.com • • nation
Key Points:
- Speaker of the House Mike Johnson led an effort to propose a constitutional amendment capping the Supreme Court at nine justices, aiming to prevent Democrats from expanding the court, but the measure failed along party lines.
- The Constitution currently allows Congress to set the size of the Supreme Court by law, and Democrats have increasingly advocated expanding the court to 13 justices to better align with the number of federal appellate courts.
- Prominent Democrats, including Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg, support court expansion as a way to reform the judiciary and reduce partisanship in the nomination process.
- Republicans oppose expanding the court, with some willing to restrict Congress’s constitutional authority over the judiciary to maintain the current court structure, despite historical precedent for changes.
- The debate over Supreme Court reform reflects broader partisan tensions, with GOP efforts to "freeze" the court size paralleling past attempts to influence electoral outcomes and judicial control.
