U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson’s proposed constitutional amendment to limit the number of justices on the Supreme Court failed to gain consideration in the House on Wednesday.
The bill, H.J.Res.11 or “Keep the Nine,” was Johnson’s first bill of the 117th Congress in January 2021. Johnson and fellow Republican House members brought it to the floor.
If passed, the bill would have prevented current and future presidents and Congress from adding justices to the Supreme Court.
“This attempt to pack the court is all about power,” Johnson said. “It’s all about getting the kinds of decisions that the House majority wants.”
Johnson said adding more justices to the court would lead to imbalances in power and cause more and more justices to be added in the future as different parties gain the majority.
“If we can just put into the Constitution to keep the nine, we will be able to somewhat insulate the court from the most corrosive political maneuvering that this body is capable of,” he said.
Johnson’s bill was a response to the Judiciary Act of 2021, which was introduced by a group of House and Senate Democrats during the 117th Congress. That act would expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court from nine to 13.
