•HRES 1138 IH 
after consist of a Chief Justice and eight associate jus-
tices’’; 
Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States has con-
sisted of a Chief Justice and eight associate Justices for 
151 years; 
Whereas previous attempts to increase the number of Jus-
tices to the Supreme Court of the United States have 
been rejected and widely condemned by individuals of 
both political parties; 
Whereas, in 1937, when former President Franklin Delano 
Roosevelt proposed the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill 
of 1937, a bill that sought to expand the number of Jus-
tices on the Supreme Court of the United States from 9 
Justices to 15 Justices, he was harshly criticized by both 
parties and his own Vice President, John Nance Garner; 
Whereas, during the Trump Administration, Democrats have 
refused to recognize the legitimacy of President Trump’s 
Supreme Court nominees and have advocated for packing 
the court with additional Justices appointed by a future 
Democrat president; 
Whereas, in 2019, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg 
stated, ‘‘I think it was a bad idea when President Frank-
lin Roosevelt tried to pack the court’’, and that ‘‘[i]f any-
thing would make the court look partisan, it would be 
that’’; 
Whereas the House Committee on the Judiciary Chairman 
Jerrold Nadler stated in a tweet, ‘‘If Sen. McConnell and 
@SenateGOP were to force through a nominee during 
the lame-duck session—before a new Senate and Presi-
dent can take office—then the incoming Senate should 
immediately move to expand the Supreme Court.’’; 
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•HRES 1138 IH 
Whereas Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer stated, 
‘‘Let me be clear: if Leader McConnell and Senate Re-
publicans move forward with this, then nothing is off the 
table for next year. Nothing is off the table.’’; 
Whereas Representative Joe Kennedy III stated in a tweet, 
‘‘If [Senate Majority Leader McConnell] holds a vote in 
2020, we pack the court in 2021. It’s that simple.’’; 
Whereas Senator Ed Markey stated in a tweet, ‘‘No Supreme 
Court vacancies filled in an election year. If [Senate Ma-
jority Leader McConnell] violates it, when Democrats 
control the Senate in the next Congress, we must abolish 
the filibuster and expand the Supreme Court.’’; 
Whereas, in July 2019, the Democrat Presidential Candidate 
Joe Biden said, ‘‘I’m not prepared to go on and try to 
pack the court, because we’ll live to rue that day’’ and 
‘‘I would not get into court packing. We add three jus-
tices. Next time around we lose control, they add three 
justices. We begin to lose any credibility the court has at 
all.’’; 
Whereas the Constitution is based on the principle of separa-
tion of powers to provide for checks and balances on each 
branch of the Federal Government, and expanding the 
Supreme Court purely for political advantage threatens 
the separation of powers and the system of checks and 
balances established in the Constitution; 
Whereas the Federal judiciary is insulated from political in-
fluence through lifetime appointments and other meas-
ures to preserve its independence, and an attempt to ex-
pand the Supreme Court purely for political purposes 
threatens the independence and integrity of the Supreme 
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•HRES 1138 IH 
Court and, thus, the entirety of the judiciary it oversees; 
and 
Whereas any attempt to increase the number of Justices of 
the Supreme Court of the United States or ‘‘pack the 
court’’ would undermine our democratic institutions and 
destroy the credibility of our Nation’s highest Court: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives con-
demns and opposes any attempt to increase the number 
of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States 
or otherwise ‘‘pack the court’’. 
Æ 
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