[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 183 (Saturday, October 24, 2020)]
[Senate]
[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.

                          ____________________