Democrats reintroduce Supreme Court expansion legislation

by Zach Schonfeld - 05/16/23 2:04 PM ET

A group of Democratic lawmakers reintroduced a bill on Tuesday that would create an additional four seats on the Supreme Court.

The move comes in the wake of a series of recent reports into the justices’ financial disclosures and the court’s landmark abortion decision, which has only added to Democrats’ scorn of the conservative-majority court.

“When a bully steals your lunch money in the schoolyard, you have to do something about it, or else the bully will come back over and over again. So we’re in this fight, and we’re going to reclaim these seats. We’re not going to allow the bully to win,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said at a press conference in front of the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Markey and other Democrats previously introduced the legislation roughly two years ago to create a 13-justice Supreme Court, one for each of the nation’s appeals courts.

Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) speaks to reporters during a press conference on Wednesday, April 19, 2023 to unveil legislation to end qualified immunity. (Annabelle Gordon)

Their reintroduced proposal follows the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and other major cases that moved the court to the right. Republicans have pushed back on the effort as an attempt by Democrats to weaponize the court.

The push also comes in the wake of a ProPublica investigation into undisclosed luxury trips that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted from GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. Thomas has defended the trips as falling under a personal hospitality exception under federal ethics laws.

“Today, a 6-3, far-right supermajority on the United States Supreme Court threatens our rights, our democracy and our planet. To restore our democracy, we must expand the United States Supreme Court, and we must do so now. Republicans captured the court against the will of most Americans,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.).

The two lawmakers were joined on Tuesday by Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.).

More Supreme Court coverage from The Hill:

Court reform advocates raised the proposal after Senate Republicans declined to hold a hearing for then-President Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, to replace the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia ahead of the 2016 election.

Four years later, upon the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Senate Republicans confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the court days ahead of the 2020 election, cementing the high court’s shift to the right.

But the court expansion calls are gaining more steam after the justice’s abortion decision last summer. Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro Choice America have joined the effort in recent weeks, and their leaders appeared alongside the lawmakers at Tuesday’s press conference to introduce the bill.

“The moment is calling for us to realize that this is necessary that we have fairness, that we have balance in our Supreme Court,” said Jacqueline Ayers, vice president of policy, campaigns and advocacy at Planned Parenthood.

“To have Planned Parenthood and NARAL stand here today and say part of the response to the Dobbs ruling needs to be structural reform of the Supreme Court is a game changer. I think it will have a huge ripple effect in terms of building more support,” said Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice.