There have been nine Supreme Court Justices since Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1869 and each Justice is tasked with impartiality in determining the constitutionality of our nation’s laws. In recent years, some have asked Congress to expand the number of justices in a blatant attempt to “pack the court” for political purposes. President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried this tactic in the 1930’s and failed, but with a current conservative-majority court, the idea of allowing President Biden to increase the number of justices is once again being considered.

On April 9, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order creating a Commission to study “court reform” and their report is expected in early October. The following week, on April 15, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced S. 1141, the Judiciary Act of 2021—legislation that would expand the Court to 12 Justices.

While Sen. Markey’s legislation died at the end of the 117th Congress, one permanent way to stop court packing is to support legislation like H.J.Res. 1. Introduced in the 118th Congress (2023-2024), this legislation proposes an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requiring that the number of Supreme Court Justices be forever limited to nine.