Johnson Forces Floor Vote to Cap the Supreme Court at Nine Justices

Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday the House will vote Wednesday, under suspension of the rules, on a constitutional amendment locking the Supreme Court at nine members. A two-thirds majority is required. Johnson announced the vote after the chamber passed the continuing resolution, telling reporters the measure would “ensure that the U.S. Supreme Court remains composed of only nine justices.” He tied the timing to Democratic Socialists of America platform language supporting court expansion and said Democrats who have distanced themselves from the DSA would “put their money where their mouth is.” “We will keep the nine,” he said. “Nine justices has worked well.” Packing the Court, he added, would turn it into “a political palooza.”

The text is H.J. Res. 1, introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). It is a single operative sentence: “The Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine justices consisting of one chief justice and eight associate justices.” The House Judiciary Committee reported it 15–8 along party lines in June. The Court’s size has been nine since the Judiciary Act of 1869; that number is a statute, not a constitutional command, and Congress can change it by ordinary majority. An Article V amendment would move the cap into the Constitution. Passage would still require two-thirds of the Senate and ratification by 38 state legislatures within seven years. Democrats have not united behind a single expansion plan. Some members and allied groups have proposed 13 justices to match the federal circuits, 18-year term limits, or other structural changes; a June resolution from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and progressive, Black, Hispanic, and Asian Pacific American caucus chairs listed court expansion among reforms if Democrats regain the House. House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar called Wednesday’s vote a “fake issue” timed to the midterms. The roll call, not enactment, is the immediate product: Republicans hold too few seats to reach two-thirds without substantial Democratic support.