On Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a constitutional amendment that would cap the number of Supreme Court Justices to nine. This move would block the Democrats from potentially expanding the bench in order to dilute the conservative majority currently sitting in the Supreme Court.
The idea of the Supreme Court getting expanded has gained traction with liberals after former President Trump appointed three justices during his time in office. This meant that the court had a 6-3 conservative majority.
Following the decision to overturn the landmark decision Roe v. Wade which protected abortion rights, there were renewed calls for expanding the court.
In a statement, Cruz said that the Supreme Court is “dedicated to upholding the rule of law and the Constitution” but the Democrats want to add more liberals to the Court in order to run it however they want. He added that the Supreme Court “should be independent” which is why he is introducing a Constitutional amendment that would cap the number of justices to nine stopping any administration from adding more justices to the court.
While there are some Democrats who have called for an expansion of the Court, President Biden, and other Democratic leaders have not called for more justices to be added. Biden specifically spoke against Court expansion last year.
The Cruz bill has the support of 10 other Republican senators including Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
