Has the Supreme Court always been the same size?
Critical Analysis
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above, any links below, your big brain, and your knowledge of American government and politics:
Article III, Section 1 of The U.S. Constitution established the Supreme Court but left it to Congress to decide how many justices should make up the court. The Judiciary Act of 1789 set the number at six: a chief justice and five associate justices. According to the data from the chart above, what is the largest the Supreme Court has ever been?
Based on the data in the chart, identify one trend in the size of the Supreme Court over time.
In 1937, in an effort to create a court more friendly to his New Deal programs, President Franklin Roosevelt attempted to convince Congress to pass legislation that would allow a new justice to be added to the court—for a total of up to 15 members—for every justice over 70 who opted not to retire. According to the chart above, did Congress go for FDR’s plan.
Because the current Supreme Court is dominated by Republicans (6 to 3 majority) some Democrats think that President Biden should increase the size of the Supreme Court so that it will be more friendly to his agenda. What step would President Biden need to take to increase the size of the Supreme Court?
If you were the current Democratic chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin (you aren’t) explain whether you would want to increase the size of the Court right now.
Do you think a move by President Biden to increase the size of the Supreme Court would be successful?
The Constitution spells out age, citizenship and residency requirements for becoming president of the United States or a member of Congress but mentions no rules for joining the nation’s highest court. To date, six justices have been foreign born; the most recent, Felix Frankfurter, who served on the court from 1939 to 1962, was a native of Vienna, Austria. The youngest associate justice ever appointed was Joseph Story, who was 32 years old when he joined the bench in 1811. Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who served from 1902 to 1932, retired at age 90, making him the oldest person ever to sit on the court. Currently, there are more requirements to working at McDonald’s than being on the Supreme Court. Do you think there should be minimum requirements to be a Supreme Court Judge.
The U.S. Constitution left it to Congress to decide how many justices should make up the court. The Judiciary Act of 1789 set the number at six. In 1807, Congress increased the number of justices to seven; in 1837, the number was bumped up to nine; and in 1863, it rose to 10. In 1866, Congress shrank the number of justices back down to seven. Three years later, in 1869, Congress raised the number of justices to nine, where it has stood ever since. What does this tell us about checks and balances.
Do you think that the American people would support changing the size of the Court which has stayed constant for the past 151 years?
What impact would a larger Supreme Court have on American politics?
Learning Extension
Read this short report from the Brookings Institute about reforming the Supreme Court.
Action Extension
Contact your U.S. Representative or Senator and let them know what you think about the size of the Supreme Court.