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As lawmakers spar over whether to expand the U.S. Supreme Court beyond nine justices, Americans interviewed by Fox News Digital on Capitol Hill had competing views on whether the nation’s highest court needs a shake-up at all.
“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” Tim from Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital.
“If you had more justices, you could have more differing opinions there,” Derek, also from Washington, said. “So you’d have to have more of a consensus on whatever they’re voting on.”
The debate comes after a Republican-backed constitutional amendment to permanently fix the court at nine justices failed in the House in September, falling short of the two-thirds majority required for passage.
Democratic lawmakers have also introduced proposals to reshape the court, including legislation to expand its membership, establish term limits and impose additional ethics requirements.
” If we’re gonna change the size, we need to do it now,” said Carl from Texas. “If you’re going to pack the court, let’s pack it now.”
One person Fox News Digital spoke with questioned the motives behind efforts to increase the number of justices.
“I think those who want to increase the size, maybe just have a bias to it, if it be Republican or Democrat,” Tim said about the idea of expanding the number of justices. “I say just leave it as it is, man.”
Democrats have become increasingly angry over many of the court’s votes, and many have alleged their rulings to be rooted in politics rather than law.
“The more people weigh in, the more accurate the results would be, right?” an interviewee said.
One also argued that while he would be in favor of potentially expanding the Supreme Court, it would be dependent on how many additional justices were to be added.
“It depends on how much more they add,” Derek said. “One or two more doesn’t seem like it’s that much, but if they’re like, ‘Double it.’ Well, starting to just kind of go overboard at that point.”
Several proposals by Democrats have been introduced to reshape the court, including legislation from Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, to expand the bench from nine to 13 justices, and a separate measure from Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., to establish 18-year terms of active service for newly appointed justices.
“I think that more substantial change would be putting in term limits,” Mark from Washington, D.C., said. “The size would allow for the next several presidents to appoint more people. I don’t know that it changes the political bent of the current situation, whereas a term limits might be more effective.”
Other Democratic proposals would impose enforceable ethics standards and require greater transparency surrounding the court’s emergency rulings, often referred to as its “shadow docket.”
House Republicans sought to permanently cap the court at nine justices, casting their proposed constitutional amendment to reject Democratic efforts to expand the court.
It failed to secure the required two-thirds majority needed to pass the House. Amending the Constitution would then also require a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate and then ratification by three-fourths of the states.
Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution establishes the Supreme Court but does not specify how many justices should serve on it, leaving Congress with the authority to determine its size.
Congress initially established six seats under the Judiciary Act of 1789. The court’s size changed several times throughout the 19th century, reaching as many as 10 justices before Congress established the current nine-justice structure in 1869.
