A Bill to Expand the Supreme Court to 13 Justices
Adds four seats to the Supreme Court over a single presidential term.
The Supreme Court shall consist of 13 Associate Justices and one Chief Justice.
The President shall nominate one additional justice per year for four years following enactment.
$28 million for chambers and staff.
Senate advise-and-consent procedure.
Mechanical parts, sourced & timed
Use this as your pre-round checklist. Memorize the source citation. Time yourself to the delivery target.
- Bill / Number
- H.R. 1109 — A Bill to Expand the Supreme Court to 13 Justices
- Funding source
- $28M for chambers and staff.
- Timeline
- 4-year phased nomination process.
- Realistic mechanically; politically explosive.
- Enforcing agency
- Senate advise-and-consent procedure.
- Yes — Article III §1 leaves Court size to Congress (Judiciary Act of 1869 set 9).
- Penalty for non-compliance
- N/A — structural change.
- Source citation
- Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States (2021), 'Final Report' — whitehouse.gov.
- Delivery time (read aloud)
- 1:10 (70s)
Expansion sets a tit-for-tat precedent — the next majority adds 4 more seats, destroying judicial legitimacy.
The 2021 Presidential Commission's report addressed this directly — the strongest safeguard is statutory expansion paired with term-limit reform (a related bill). And the legitimacy concern cuts both ways: Gallup (2023) shows Court approval at 40%, the lowest in polling history; the status quo is already legitimacy-eroding.