A conservative U.S. senator is moving to cut off a liberal plan to seize control of the United State Supreme Court by inventing new seats on it and giving them to activist liberals until the current conservative majority is outnumbered.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, announced he has “introduced a constitutional amendment to maintain a total of nine Supreme Court justices on the bench at a time.”
Cruz’s amendment stops a liberal plan, called “court packing,” which essentially “stuffs the ballot box” by adding new seats, intended for liberal judges, to conservative-majority courts like the Supreme Court until the majority is outnumbered.
Upon introduction, Sen. Cruz said, “For years, Democrats have openly said they intend to pack the Supreme Court. They seek to use the Court to advance policy goals they can’t accomplish electorally. Such a move would be a direct assault on the design of our Constitution, which is designed to ensure the Supreme Court remains a non-partisan guardian of the rule of law. This amendment is a badly-needed check on their efforts to undermine the integrity of the Court.”
Cruz’s S.J. Res. 16 “proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to require that the Supreme Court of the United States be composed of nine justices,” so that liberals can’t simply add judges to the Court until they get the rulings they want.
If approved by Congress, the amendment would go to the states for ratification.
The proposed constitutional amendment is co-sponsored by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.).
Sen. Grassley said, “Democrats’ radical court packing scheme would erase the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and destroy historic precedent. The Court is a co-equal branch of government, and our Keep Nine Amendment will ensure that it remains independent from political pressure.”
Sen. Lee said, “It is vital that we protect the independence and integrity of the Supreme Court. Radical Democrats will not stop trying to rig the decisions they want through court packing, and this legislation would permanently take that dangerous option off the table.”
Sen. Crapo said, “Throughout our nation’s history, the Supreme Court has successfully safeguarded our Constitution. Packing the Court would unnecessarily increase partisanship within the institution, creating greater challenges in settling the pressing cases that matter to Americans in a constitutional and just way.”
Sen. Capito said, “A nine Justice court has worked for our country for more than 150 years. Increasing that number in a partisan effort to achieve a desired policy result is a never-ending proposition. If court-packing were pursued, respect for the Supreme Court would plummet and the checks and balances of our constitutional order would be threatened. We should preserve our independent judiciary by closing the door to the Democrats radical court packing proposals.”
Sen. Blackburn said, “The radical left wants to pack the Supreme Court to implement their socialist agenda. The number of justices on our nation’s highest court should stay the same regardless of which party is in power.”
Sen. Cassidy said, “Packing the courts to achieve a preordained outcome is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind. Nine justices has been a good number for 156 years; I’m sure it will be for another 156.”
Sen. Young said, “Though there is less talk about court packing these days from Democrats, adding to the Supreme Court remains a bad idea. I am again supporting this legislation to protect the constitutional credibility of the Supreme Court.”
Sen. Hyde-Smith said, “The Supreme Court was designed by our Founders to protect justice, not be used as a political pawn. We need to keep it that way. Packing the Court for political leverage destabilizes the integrity of the institution and is dangerous for our country. If this constitutional amendment is approved by Congress and the states, the issue will be settled for good.”
Sen. Banks said, “Americans forcefully rejected Democrats at the ballot box last year. Their backup plan is to override the will of the voters by packing the Court. This amendment crushes that plan.”
Sen. Risch said, “Democrats’ attempts to pack the Supreme Court with radical appointees undermines our democracy and American confidence in our judicial system. The Keep Nine Constitutional Amendment would ensure justices focus on upholding the rule of law rather than legislating from the bench.”
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
Senator Crapo.
Not co-sponsored by anyone in NY, so it must be a good thing to do.