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[Pages S6447-S6448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS
______
SENATE RESOLUTION 758--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT THE
NUMBER OF JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES SHOULD
REMAIN AT 9
Mr. DAINES submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on the Judiciary:
S. Res. 758
Whereas the Act entitled An Act to amend the judicial
system of the United States, approved April 10, 1869
(commonly known as the ``Judiciary Act of 1869'') (16 Stat.
44; chapter 22), states that ``the Supreme Court of the
United States shall hereafter consist of the Chief Justice of
the United States and eight associate justices'';
Where the Supreme Court of the United States has consisted
of a Chief Justice and 8 associate Justices for 151 years;
Whereas previous attempts to increase the number of
justices on the Supreme Court of the United States have been
rejected and widely condemned by individuals of both
political parties;
Whereas, in 1937, when former President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt proposed the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of
1937, a bill that sought to expand the number of justices on
the Supreme Court of the United States from 9 justices to 15
Justices, he was harshly criticized by both parties and his
own Vice President, John Nance Garner;
Whereas, the 1937 Senate Judiciary Committee report, in
response to the Court-packing plan by President Roosevelt,
decried the plan as ``a needless, futile, and utterly
dangerous abandonment of constitutional principle'', that
``[i]ts ultimate operation would be to make this government
one of men rather than one of law'' and that it was ``a
measure, which should be so emphatically rejected that its
parallel will never again be presented to the free
representatives of the free people of America'';
Whereas, during the Trump Administration, Democrats have
refused to recognize the legitimacy of nominations made by
President Trump to the Supreme Court of the United States and
have advocated for packing the Court with additional justices
appointed by a future Democrat president;
Whereas, in 1983 during a Senate Judiciary Committee
hearing, then-Senator Joe Biden noted that Court packing was
a ``bonehead idea'' and ``a terrible, terrible mistake'' that
``put in question for an entire decade the independence of
the most significant body--including the Congress, in my
view--the most significant body in this country, the
[[Page S6448]]
Supreme Court of the United States of America'';
Whereas, in 2005 during a speech on the Senate floor, then-
Senator Joe Biden praised members of the Democrat Party for
their ``act of courage'' in opposing the Court-packing plan
of President Roosevelt, which he described as a ``power
grab'';
Whereas, in 2019, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
stated, ``I think it was a bad idea when President Franklin
Roosevelt tried to pack the Court'', and that ``if anything
would make the Court look partisan, it would be that'';
Whereas the Constitution of the United States is based on
the principle of separation of powers to provide for checks
and balances on each branch of the Federal Government and
expanding the Supreme Court of the United States purely for
political advantage threatens the separation of powers and
the system of checks and balances established in the
Constitution of the United States;
Whereas the Federal judiciary is insulated from political
influence through lifetime appointments and other measures to
preserve its independence and an attempt to expand the
Supreme Court of the United States purely for political
purposes threatens the independence and integrity of the
Supreme Court and, thus, the entirety of the judiciary it
oversees; and
Whereas any attempt to increase the number of justices of
the Supreme Court of the United States or ``pack the Court''
would undermine the democratic institutions and destroy the
credibility of the highest court in the United States: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate opposes any attempt to increase
the number of justices of the Supreme Court of the United
States or otherwise pack the Court.
____________________
