Democrats to Unveil Supreme Court-Packing Bill, Expanding SCOTUS to 13
New vacancies to be filled immediately by Joe Biden and Dem-controlled Senate
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Democrats are to unveil a radical Supreme Court-packing bill on Thursday, according to reports.
The legislation will reportedly pack the SCOTUS by expanding the number of justices from nine to thirteen
The four newly-created vacancies will be filled immediately by Joe Biden and the Democrat-controlled Senate.
"Congressional Democrats plan to unveil legislation expanding the size of the Supreme Court on Thursday, according to three congressional sources familiar with the closely held measure," The Intercept reported Wednesday evening.
"The bill would add four seats to the high court, bringing the total to 13, from the current 9," the outlet adds.
"The bill is led by House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler, Subcommittee chair Hank Johnson, and freshman Rep. Mondaire Jones."
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The bill is being championed by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) in the Senate, according to Breitbart.
The proposal comes less than a week after Joe Biden signed an executive order creating a commission to study the question of whether the Supreme Court should be expanded.
The commission is headed by partisan Democrats.
However, left-wing Democrats warned that the commission could be used to thwart their desired changes rather than advancing them.
Democrats began talking about packing the Supreme Court after Justce Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed in 2018.
Biden once dismissed the idea, but moved to the left on the issue, as he did on many others.
He declined to state his position until late in the 2020 presidential campaign, after the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, when he proposed the commission.
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Expanding the Supreme Court to 13 justices would give liberal justices a nominal 7-6 majority.
Congress can set the size of the Supreme Court without a constitutional amendment, though the last president who tried to pack the Supreme Court, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was opposed by his own party.
His effort is viewed by historians as a crude power grab — but one that ultimately convinced the Court to stop striking down his New Deal legislation and to allow government powers to grow.
