SCOTUS: Is 9 a Good Number?

Mike Davis joins Tim to talk about the current debate over whether or not to expand the size of the U.S. Supreme Court, otherwise known as “court packing.” Mike is president of the Article 3 Project. That’s an organization that focuses on the U.S. Constitution and the judicial branch of government. Mike explains how important it is to preserve the apolitical nature of the judicial branch of government, and the U.S. Supreme Court, in particular.

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The U.S. Supreme Court is as old as the country itself. The Court was established by the United States Constitution with the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1789. It first assembled in 1790.

The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court in the court system, representing the judiciary branch of the nation.

The judiciary is one of three branches of government. The other two are the executive branch, headed by the president, and the legislative branch, which represents both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

When the Supreme Court was established back in 1789, it had six Justices.

Since then, the number of justices on the court has changed a few times.  John Adams, when he was president, passed the Judiciary Act of 1801, which reduced the Court to five justices. This was an attempt to limit how many appointments the next president – Thomas Jefferson – could appoint to the bench.

Once Jefferson got into office, he and his party repealed the act and went back to having six justices on the high court. Then, in 1807, Jefferson and Congress decided to add a seventh justice when it added a seventh federal circuit.

Andrew Jackson was the next president to change the number of justices on the Supreme Court. In 1837, he added two more justices to the high court after Congress expanded the number of federal circuit court districts.

The next time there was a change to that number was for a short time during the Civil War. In 1863, Congress created a 10th federal circuit, and so the country had a 10th Supreme Court Justice.

Once the war was over, Congress passed legislation in 1866 to reduce the Court to seven justices. That lasted for two years. In 1869, a new Judiciary Act established the number of nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court.

That was the last time there was a change to the number of justices on the Supreme Court. 1869.

The last time there was any serious consideration to changing the number was a failed attempt by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1937. His motives were political. He wanted a majority of Democrat-leaning justices to help advance his agenda. So, his idea was to add as many as six new members to the Supreme Court.

The effort failed when two respected members of the Court at that time, decided to oppose the effort – Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Justice Louis Brandeis.

Mike Davis has spent much of his career focused on the justice system, and the U.S. Constitution. He’s had a special focus on the judiciary and the Supreme Court.
Links

The Article 3 Project, website
Internet Accountability Project, website
Court-packing Isn't Just a Bad Idea, It's Downright Unconstitutional, New York Post
Mike Davis: Packing the Court is a Radical Assault on Judicial Independence, The Epoch Times
Democrats Introducing Legislation to Pack Supreme Court with 4 New Justices, Report Says, DailyWire

About this Episode’s Guest Mike Davis
Mike Davis leads the Article III Project (A3P), established to fight for and defend judicial nominees, appointed judges, the process, and judicial independence.

He is also the founder and president of the Internet Accountability Project, a new advocacy organization that opposes Big Tech and seeks to hold them accountable for their bad acts.

Davis previously served as Chief Counsel for Nominations to Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary during the 115...