WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Tuesday rejected a Republican-backed constitutional amendment that would have permanently capped the U.S. Supreme Court at nine justices.
The measure was defeated 212-206, falling well short of the two-thirds support required for a constitutional amendment to clear the House. Rep. Don Davis of North Carolina was the only Democrat to join Republicans in voting for it.
GOP leaders pushed the proposal as part of a broader political effort to portray Democrats as open to expanding the Supreme Court in response to its conservative majority, while also linking the party to the Democratic Socialists of America.
“We will have them put their money where their mouth is,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters before the vote. “There’s a couple of Democrats here in the House who have suggested that they’re not on board with the Democratic Socialists of America. Just a few.”
“They’re going to get a chance to show us.”
The DSA has called for abolishing the Supreme Court and replacing it with a judicial system “subordinate to Congress.” Republicans have increasingly used the group’s influence in Democratic primaries as a line of attack against the party.
The proposed amendment would have written into the Constitution a Supreme Court composed of one chief justice and eight associate justices.
Although the Supreme Court was originally created with six justices, Congress later changed its size several times. The current nine-justice structure has remained in place since 1869, despite Franklin D. Roosevelt’s high-profile push in the 1930s to expand the court.
Congress has the power to expand the Supreme Court through statutory law. It would need to clear the 60-vote filibuster in the Senate.
Many prominent Democrats have floated the possibility of expanding the Supreme Court due to their frustrations with it.
“We need to revisit the point of expanding the court to 13 justices like we have 13 district courts,” former Vice President Kamala Harris said at an event in July.
Over the weekend, Rep. Jim Clyburn (R-SC) similarly called for that, arguing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “a baker’s dozen would be a good number to have on the court.”
Proponents of the measure, such as Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), argued that it is needed to insulate the high court from political pressure or
“How can the Supreme Court protect Americans from government overreach if the same government can pack the court whenever it dislikes a ruling?” he asked during a discussion about the amendment in July.
