Fairfax, Va. – In response to congressional Democrats introducing legislation today that would add four more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, boosting the number of justices on the bench from nine to 13, Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning issued the following statement:
“Today’s announcement that Democrat congressional leaders are going all-in on packing the Supreme Court is more evidence that the very slender, far-left Democrat majority intends to seize and maintain power using any tactic available, even if it means destroying the independence of the judicial branch of government.
“Given that court packing is now actively in play, every GOP Senator and House Member along with any rational Democrat members of Congress must push back by cosponsoring the Keep Nine constitutional amendment by Senator Ted Cruz (SJR 9) and Rep. Dusty Johnson (HJR 11).
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Open in new tab “The Keep Nine amendment has more than 100 House cosponsors and has gained unanimous support from the Republican National Committee, along with support from Rep. John Katko (R-NY), chair of the liberal Republican Governance Group as well as the support of Freedom Caucus Chairman, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Republican Study Committee leader Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN). This broad-based conference-wide support demonstrates there is no disagreement about the need for the Keep Nine amendment which simply states, ‘The Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine Justices.’
“To date, not a single Democrat member of the House or Senate has cosponsored the amendment even though one of its original supporters was former Representative Colin Peterson (D-MN).
“This is important because Keep Nine is not a partisan issue. Recent polling by John McLaughlin shows that the Keep Nine amendment enjoys 62-18 percent support. Among voters with an opinion, overwhelming majorities of both Republicans and Democrats support the Keep Nine amendment.
“While many politicians are likely to publicly express skepticism about court packing that is not enough. Americans expect action rather than hollow words and there simply is no excuse not to cosponsor Senator Cruz ad Representative Johnson’s amendment.
“Americans for Limited Government strongly urges each Member of Congress, regardless of partisan affiliation, to reject this blatant politicization of the Supreme Court by taking a stand opposing court packing by cosponsoring the Keep Nine constitutional amendment.
“You cannot say you oppose court packing and not cosponsor of Keep Nine, a clear, straightforward amendment to the Constitution to prevent current and future attempts to politicize the Court by manipulating it’s make-up.”
For media availability contact Catherine Mortensen at 703-478-4643 or cmortensen@getliberty.org.