House Blocks GOP Effort to Protect Supreme Court from Radical Expansion
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The House narrowly voted down a Republican-backed constitutional amendment to secure the Supreme Court at nine justices, thwarting a crucial effort to defend the judiciary from left-wing schemes to pack the Court and undermine its independence.
On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a vital joint resolution that would have amended the Constitution to safeguard the Supreme Court at nine justices. The measure, introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), received 212 votes in favor and 206 against, falling short of the two-thirds supermajority needed to protect the Court from partisan manipulation.
The proposed amendment would have established that the Court "shall be composed of nine justices consisting of one chief justice and eight associate justices." Biggs argued that enshrining this number would prevent future attempts by radical leftists to expand the Court for political gain.
"It fixes the number of justices at nine permanently, not because nine is a magic number, but because a fixed court cannot be expanded by whoever happens to win the next election," Biggs explained, highlighting the need to shield the judiciary from political gamesmanship.
House Speaker Mike Johnson emphasized the necessity of this measure, warning that allowing Democrats to expand the bench would turn the judiciary into a "political palooza"—destroying the Court’s independence and credibility.
Democratic leaders, intent on keeping the door open for court-packing schemes, opposed the amendment, arguing it would remove a constitutional authority from Congress. Rep. Katherine Clark, the House Democratic Whip, criticized Republicans for allegedly ceding Congressional powers, but ignored the real threat: left-wing efforts to seize control of the Supreme Court.
"This Republican majority — which has already surrendered Congressional war powers, Congressional taxing and tariff powers, and Congressional spending powers to President Trump — would now permanently relinquish the power to set the number of Supreme Court Justices, given to Congress in Article I of the Constitution," Clark’s statement read, revealing Democrats’ desire to keep manipulating the Court’s size for political advantage.
Democrats cited fringe proposals from the Democratic Socialists of America to replace the Court with a legislature-chosen judiciary, and some, like Rep. James Clyburn, openly called for expanding the Court to 13 justices—a clear sign of their intent to pack the Court. Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, accused Republicans of trying to "freeze" the Court, but in reality, it is the left that seeks to upend the judiciary for partisan purposes.
"Trump's followers in Congress now seek to freeze into place the political court that MAGA built, for decades to come. Thus, they urge us to give away another critical power that the framers vested in us," Raskin said, exposing the left’s obsession with politicizing the Court.
Amending the Constitution remains a difficult process, requiring a two-thirds vote in both chambers and ratification by three-fourths of the states—making it all the more urgent to defend the Court from radical change.