How can the SCOTUS bench be increased to 11 from the 9?

[samsingh]

Can this be done by Executive Order?

[former9thward]

1. No.

Congress would have to pass a law and the President would have to sign it.

[murielm99]

2. FDR tried to increase the size of the court.

It didn't work.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Ha, good luck with that. Franklin Roosevelt tried it in 1937

and the whole attempt crashed and burned. It will never happen again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Procedures_Reform_Bill_of_1937

[arcane1]

8. Fascinating. I never knew about this.

Oh the things you learn on DU!!!!

[emsimon33]

12. There were political cartoons at the time.

From my American History course in high school, I remember one that depicted FDR trying to add sardines to a can of sardines. The Sardines in the can had the justices' names on them.

[Duckhunter935]

4. no

Already tried

[longship]

5. Been tried before.

IMHO, it would take an act of congress. Good luck with that, President Obama.

FDR tried it and would likely have gotten himself impeached if he had succeeded.

[cerveza_gratis]

6. FDR gave this a shot. Wasn't very well received.

The table near the bottom of this lists all the times the SC was expanded.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_Procedures_Reform_Bill_of_1937

[hrmjustin]

7. No and nor should it be.

[pipoman]

9. no

[tritsofme]

11. Do you really think this is something that could be done by executive order?

Why wouldn't another president, or this one, have not done it whenever they where frustrated by a Supreme Court majority?

Even then, do you think this is the sort of thing a president ought to be able to do by fiat?

This sort of question, along with the fact that many are apparently completely ignorant of FDR's famously disastrous attempt to enlarge the Court is really kind of scary.

[emsimon33]

13. Impeach the SC Taliban Five

once we get rid of the Republican Congress

[PoliticAverse]

14. The size of the Court is determined by Congress.

At one time there were 10 justices on the Court.

Since The Judiciary Act of 1869 there have been 9.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judiciary_Act_of_1869

[samsingh]

15. so if we decisively could win back Congress

then it could be done.

I guess age limits would also have to be passed by Congress on the SCOTUS

[SickOfTheOnePct]

18. Not likely

The Constitution has always been interpreted such that federal judges have lifetime appointments, and you can't undo that unless the Constitution is amended to do it.

Retirement, death or impeachment are the only ways out...

[el_bryanto]

16. I think that people are saying that i t couldn't be done

I don't know if it legally couldn't be done - it just didn't succeed when FDR tried it. And in part because one of the justices stopped rilling all the new deal programs as unconstitutional, so he didn't push for it as hard as he might have. I think it could possibly be done, but politically it would be very very very risky.

but the current set up has risks too as we can see.

Bryant

[LuvNewcastle]

19. I remember it being called "the switch in time that saved nine."

That's really why it wasn't pursued further -- the Court stopped thwarting all the New Deal programs. I think it could be done under the right circumstances; it just hasn't been so important since the New Deal days.

But these 5 Justices we have are way behind the times of the country, and something needs to be done to stop them. I think Thomas should have been impeached a long time ago due to his lying about hundreds of thousands in income on his tax returns. Maybe if the process was started in that direction, he would resign rather than go through a trial. Either way would be fine with me. He's been a national embarrassment for long enough.

[samsingh]

21. if anyone Democrat did what thomas has done they would be pressured to resign

or be impeached

[ohnoyoudidnt]

17. Not going to happen.

We just have to hope we win in 2016 and can subsequently replace 1 or 2 cons on the court.

[Calista241]

20. Can you imagine the media uproar if one side tried to do this? N/t

[samsingh]

22. the media roars when Obama creates jobs

I think they would have to be managed

in fact, if they saw the Democrats are starting to stand up for themselves and not taking bullshit, the media may be as afraid of us as they are about repugs.