Title: A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the number of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States should remain at 9.
Policy area: Law

Summary:
This resolution opposes any attempt to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 164 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 164

 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the number of justices of the 
         Supreme Court of the United States should remain at 9.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 19, 2021

  Mr. Daines (for himself, Mr. Lankford, and Mr. Rubio) submitted the 
   following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the 
                               Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the number of justices of the 
         Supreme Court of the United States should remain at 9.

Whereas the first section of the Act entitled ``An Act to amend the Judicial 
        System of the United States'', approved April 10, 1869 (commonly known 
        as the ``Judiciary Act of 1869'') (16 Stat. 44; chapter 22), states that 
        ``the Supreme Court of the United States shall hereafter consist of the 
        Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices'';
Whereas the Supreme Court of the United States has consisted of a Chief Justice 
        and 8 associate Justices for 152 years;
Whereas previous attempts to increase the number of justices on 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 justices 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, the 1937 Senate Judiciary Committee report, in response to the Court-
        packing plan by President Roosevelt, decried the plan as ``a needless, 
        futile, and utterly dangerous abandonment of constitutional principle'', 
        that ``[i]ts ultimate operation would be to make this government one of 
        men rather than one of law'' and that it was ``a measure, which should 
        be so emphatically rejected that its parallel will never again be 
        presented to the free representatives of the free people of America'';
Whereas, during the Trump Administration, Democrats have refused to recognize 
        the legitimacy of nominations made by President Trump to the Supreme 
        Court of the United States and have advocated for packing the Court with 
        additional justices appointed by a future Democrat president;
Whereas, in 1983 during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, then-Senator Joe 
        Biden noted that Court packing was a ``bonehead idea'' and ``a terrible, 
        terrible mistake'' that ``put in question for an entire decade the 
        independence of the most significant body--including the Congress, in my 
        view--the most significant body in this country, the Supreme Court of 
        the United States of America'';
Whereas, in 2005 during a speech on the Senate floor, then-Senator Joe Biden 
        praised members of the Democrat Party for their ``act of courage'' in 
        opposing the Court-packing plan of President Roosevelt, which he 
        described as a ``power grab'';
Whereas, in 2019, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated, ``I think it was 
        a bad idea when President Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack the Court'', 
        and that ``if anything would make the Court look partisan, it would be 
        that'';
Whereas, in 2021, Justice Stephen Breyer urged supporters of court packing to 
        ``think long and hard'' about undermining the independence of the court, 
        noting that it is imperative the public ``trust that the court is guided 
        by legal principle, not politics'' and that ``structural alteration 
        motivated by the perception of political influence can only feed that 
        latter perception, further eroding that trust'';
Whereas the Constitution of the United States is based on the principle of 
        separation of powers to provide for checks and balances on each branch 
        of the Federal Government and expanding the Supreme Court of the United 
        States purely for political advantage threatens the separation of powers 
        and the system of checks and balances established in the Constitution of 
        the United States;
Whereas the Federal judiciary is insulated from political influence through 
        lifetime appointments and other measures to preserve its independence 
        and an attempt to expand the Supreme Court of the United States purely 
        for political purposes threatens the independence and integrity of the 
        Supreme 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 the democratic 
        institutions and destroy the credibility of the highest court in the 
        United States: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate opposes any attempt to increase the 
number of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States or 
otherwise pack the Court.
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