‘Integrity of the Court’: Cruz reintroduces amendment to combat court expansion efforts

FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, is reintroducing a constitutional amendment to cap the number of Supreme Court Justices at nine, amid calls to expand the court. 

Cruz, now joined by 15 cosponsors including Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (LA), Chuck Grassley (IA), Mike Crapo (ID), Thom Tillis (NC) and John Cornyn (TX), previously introduced the amendment in 2021 and in 2023. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Cruz said Democrats are seeking to “use the Court to advance policy goals they can’t accomplish electorally.”

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“Such a move would be a direct assault on the design of our Constitution, which is designed to ensure the Supreme Court remains a non-partisan guardian of the rule of law,” Cruz said. “This amendment is a badly-needed check on their efforts to undermine the integrity of the Court.” 

Likewise, Grassley said the amendment would ensure the Court’s independence from political pressures. 

“Democrats’ radical court packing scheme would erase the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and destroy historic precedent,” Grassley said in a statement. “The Court is a co-equal branch of government, and our Keep Nine Amendment will ensure that it remains independent from political pressure.”

The nine-justice court currently has a conservative supermajority. Following various landmark decisions in recent years, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Democrats have re-upped calls to impose court reforms, including expanding and packing the court as well as imposing term limits. 

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In October, then-Vice President Kamala Harris entertained the notion of imposing court reforms during a CNN town hall. Harris was asked if she would support expanding the number of justices from the current nine to 12. 

“There is no question that the American people increasingly are losing confidence in the Supreme Court and, in large part, because of the behavior of certain members of that court and because of certain rulings, including the Dobbs decision and taking away a precedent that had been in place for 50 years, protecting a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body,” Harris said during the event.

“So, I do believe that there should be some kind of reform of the court, and we can study what that actually looks like.” 

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Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, also called for reforming the Court that same month, saying in social media posts, “We need to radically reform the broken Supreme Court.”

Democrats have consistently proposed legislation to expand the Supreme Court to a 13-justice bench. 

In May 2023, Georgia Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson joined Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Tina Smith of Minnesota, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, as well as Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler of New York, Cori Bush of Mississippi, and Adam Schiff of California, in reintroducing the Judiciary Act of 2023.  

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“We want to prevent this kind of rot and decay from ever overtaking a Supreme Court again,” Johnson told Fox News Digital in October.