WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) joined 17 of her Republican Senate colleagues—led by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas)—to introduce a constitutional amendment to maintain a total of nine Supreme Court justices on the bench at a time. Once approved by Congress, the amendment would go to the states for ratification.
“A nine Justice court has worked for our country for more than 150 years. Increasing that number in a partisan effort to achieve a desired policy result is a never-ending proposition. If court-packing were pursued, respect for the Supreme Court would plummet and the checks and balances of our constitutional order would be threatened. We should preserve our independent judiciary by closing the door to the Democrats radical court packing proposals,” Senator Capito said.
Full text of the constitutional amendment can be found here.
BACKGROUND:
Over the past several years, top Democrats have pledged to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court when they are able to.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris said: “We are on the verge of a crisis of confidence in the Supreme Court [...] We have to take this challenge head on, and everything is on the table to do that.”
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) posted online: “Mitch McConnell set the precedent. No Supreme Court vacancies filled in an election year. If he violates it, when Democrats control the Senate in the next Congress, we must abolish the filibuster and expand the Supreme Court.”
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) called court-packing: “long-overdue court reform.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said: “I'm open. [...] Actually, I mean, we could. [...] Look, there are a lot of different ways to do it. The number of people on the Supreme Court is not constitutionally constricted.”
Meanwhile Democrats, including Joe Biden, falsely called Senate Republicans’ efforts to confirm Judge Barrett “court-packing.”
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