Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg declined two “controversial” proposals for Supreme Court reforms that would include putting limits on justices, as well as increase the number of justices, The Hill reported.
“Nine seems to be a good number. It’s been that way for a long time,” Ginsburg said, speaking to NPR.
Eric Holder, who is a former attorney general, joined by 2020 Democrat hopefuls and Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Texas Representative Beto O’Rourke recently re-opened the subject on court-packing, i.e. expanding it beyond nice justices.
“I think it was a bad idea when President Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack the court,” Ginsburg noted.
In 1937, Roosevelt proposed expanding the court to as many as 15 judges in a plan that was delayed by a Senate committee. At the time it was speculated that Roosevelt’s proposal put political pressure on the justices in cases before the court.
Ginsburg in the interview also dismissed the idea of term limits for justices, a concept that gained renewed bipartisan interest late last year amid concerns over the health of older justices.
“Our Constitution is powerfully hard to amend,” Ginsburg said, noting it calls for life terms for federal judges.
Be the first to comment