Progressive lawmakers are pushing to pack the U.S. Supreme Court by adding four more justices to the bench.
The membership of the Congressional Progressive Caucus has voted in favor of backing the Judiciary Act of 2021, which would raise the number of justices from nine to 13.
“After thoughtful consideration, the Progressive Caucus membership has determined that the urgent work to restore American democracy must include expanding the Supreme Court,” Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said in a statement.
“The current bench was filled by a partisan, right-wing effort to entrench a radical, anti-democratic faction and erode human rights that have been won over decades. In recent years, this court has gutted the Voting Rights Act and public sector unions, entrenched unconstitutional abortion bans, and failed to overturn the blatantly discriminatory Muslim Ban. As a co-equal governing body, Congress cannot sit by while this attack on the constitution continues unchecked. I am proud that our Caucus is joining the fight to expand the court and restore balance to the bench,” she said.
The quantity of seats on the court has been fixed at nine for more than 150 years.
“The number of Justices on the Supreme Court changed six times before settling at the present total of nine in 1869,” according to the Supreme Court’s website.
A Morning Consult/Politico poll of registered voters conducted in April 2021 found that the idea of expanding the number of seats on the high court was not very popular. When selecting which came closest to their view, just 26% indicated that they thought Congress should approve a law permitting more than nine justices to serve on the high court, while 46% indicated that the nation’s legislature should only allow nine members on the high court.