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- Four members of Congress have plans to try to expand the Supreme Court, according to The Intercept.
- House and Senate Democrats are poised to introduce a bill Thursday that would add four justices.
- Earlier this month, Biden ordered a commission to study possible Supreme Court reforms.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Democrats are reportedly ready to try and add more justices to the US Supreme Court.
Four members of Congress are poised to introduce legislation Thursday that would expand the size of the Supreme Court, first reported by The Intercept and later confirmed by other outlets.
The bill is reportedly being led by House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler of New York, Subcommittee Chair Hank Johnson of Georgia, and Rep. Mondaire Jones of New York in the House, while Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts is spearheading the bill in the Senate.
Three congressional sources familiar with the measure told The Intercept that the legislation would add four seats to the Supreme Court, which would bring the total number of justices to 13.
Congress has the power to set the number of judges on the high court, and the count previously fluctuated during the country’s pre-20th century history.
Former President Donald Trump was able to appoint three justices during his four-year tenure, cementing a 6-3 conservative-leaning Supreme Court after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September 2020.
After the Senate rushed through Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation process just weeks before the 2020 election, some Democrats started advocating for “packing the courts,” or expanding the number of justices in order to take back some judicial control.
Now, Democrats hold, an albeit, narrow majority in both chambers, and even President Joe Biden, who had previously said he “wasn’t a fan” of court-packing, has signaled he may be open to the idea, creating a commission to study the possible reform and others earlier this month.
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