Republican Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher will introduce a constitutional amendment later Tuesday limiting the Supreme Court to nine justices, the Daily Caller has learned.
Gallagher introduced the same amendment in the 116th and 117th Congresses, and Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz introduced a Senate version in March. The Supreme Court has had nine justices since 1869, although prominent Democrats have renewed calls to pack it in the wake of decisions targeting affirmative action and student loan forgiveness.
“Radical progressives want to delegitimize the Supreme Court by packing it with liberal justices. This is a recipe for chaos, an idea so crazy that President Biden’s own Supreme Court commission dismissed it. The Court has had no more than nine justices for over 150 years, and it’s time we pass a constitutional amendment to make this precedent permanent before it’s too late. We can’t undermine the public’s confidence in the Court because ‘The Squad’ didn’t get its way,” Gallagher said in a statement to the Daily Caller.
Read the amendment here:
GALLWI_024_xml by Michael Ginsberg on Scribd
In a bid to appease the left flank of the Democratic Party, President Joe Biden convened a commission in the first week of his presidency to study “reform[ing] the court system.” The commission did not endorse expanding the size of the Supreme Court, although it did assert “considerable, bipartisan support” for term limits for justices. (RELATED: Biden’s Supreme Court Commission ‘Divided’ On Whether Packing The Court Would Be ‘Wise’)
Democrats have repeatedly pressed to expand the size of the Court in the aftermath of conservative rulings. Ahead of decisions expanding gun rights and overturning Roe v. Wade, left-wing members introduced legislation to add four seats to the Court. New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, formerly the head of the House Judiciary Committee, has asserted that Republicans “packed” the Supreme Court by confirming conservative justices.
“Some people will say we’re packing the court. We’re not packing it, we’re unpacking it,” he said in 2021. “Sen. McConnell and Republicans packed the court over the last couple of years as Senator Markey outlined.”
The Supreme Court’s decisions curtailing affirmative action in college admissions and overturning an executive order transferring billions in student loans from the holders to taxpayers triggered another spate of calls to pack the court.
Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna of California and Don Beyer of Virginia introduced legislation setting term limits for the justices at 18 years. Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib asserted that the “Supreme Court has become a cesspool of corruption,” while California Rep. Adam Schiff said packing the Court is not “extreme or unprecedented,” unlike the justices’ rulings.