House Rejects GOP Proposal to Fix Supreme Court at Nine Justices
The House voted 212-206 against a Republican-backed constitutional amendment that would set the Supreme Court’s size at nine justices, falling short of the two-thirds majority required for passage.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to reject a joint resolution that would amend the Constitution to limit the Supreme Court to nine justices. The measure, introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), received 212 votes in favor and 206 against, well below the two-thirds supermajority needed for constitutional change.
The proposed amendment would state that the Court "shall be composed of nine justices consisting of one chief justice and eight associate justices." Biggs argued that fixing the number would prevent future expansions by any party that wins an election.
"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 said during debate.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said limiting the Court to nine seats is "critically important" and warned that expanding the bench could turn the judiciary into a "political palooza."
Democratic leaders opposed the amendment, contending it would remove a constitutional authority from Congress. Rep. Katherine Clark, the House Democratic Whip, warned that the Republican majority had already ceded other congressional powers and now sought to give up the power to set the Court’s size.
"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," the notice from Clark read.
Democrats also cited proposals from the Democratic Socialists of America to replace the Court with a legislature-chosen judiciary, and noted that some Democrats, including Rep. James Clyburn, have called for expanding the Court to as many as 13 justices. Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, suggested the vote reflects GOP concerns about the upcoming election.
"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 on the floor.
Amending the Constitution still requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers and ratification by three-fourths of the states.