Pelosi shoots down bill to expand Supreme Court
Critics say commission should do its work
WASHINGTON – Progressive Democrats introduced legislation Thursday to expand the Supreme Court to 13 justices, setting up a caustic rhetorical battle that Democratic leaders signaled they are eager to avoid.
Though the idea of expanding the nation’s highest court has drawn sharp criticism from Senate Republicans and has been largely dismissed by President Joe Biden, progressives are pushing the idea as a way to blunt the effects of President Donald Trump’s three nominations to a court where conservatives now hold a 6-3 edge.
But even before lawmakers formally unveiled the the bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday was expressing her opposition.
The introduction came days after Biden created a 36-member commission to study potential structural changes to the Supreme Court.
The president promised creation of that commission during the campaign to head off pressure from the left as Trump and Senate Republicans rushed to confirm Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett last year.
The court “is out of balance, and it needs to be fixed,” Sen. Ed Markey, Dmass., said outside the Supreme Court on Thursday. “Too many Americans have lost faith in the court as a neutral arbiter of the most important constitutional and legal questions that arise in our judicial system.”
But Pelosi threw cold water on the bill.
“I think it’s an idea that should be considered and I think the president’s taking the right approach to have a commission to study such a thing,” she said. “I have no plans to bring it to the floor.”
Progressive lawmakers and activists say adding seats to the court, which has been set at nine since 1869, is the only way to curtail the conservative majority. But the legislation to expand the Supreme Court will face an uphill battle on Capitol Hill, not only because of Republican opposition but also because of Biden’s position on the issue.
The number of justices is set by federal statute, not the Constitution, and it has changed several times in the nation’s history.