Bill Text: MI HR0143 | 2021-2022 | 101st Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: A resolution to discourage Congress from expanding the size of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-08-17 - Referred To Committee On Judiciary [HR0143 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2021-HR0143-Introduced.html
house resolution no.143
Reps. Green and Carra offered the following resolution:
Whereas, For over 150 years, there have been nine seats on the Supreme Court of the United States. While the country has grown and changed during that period, the Supreme Court has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to fulfill its constitutional role as the nation's highest court and remain an independent arbiter of the law without additional justices; and
Whereas, In recent months, there have been calls to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court in an effort to gain political advantage, including the Judiciary Act of 2021, H.R. 2584 of 2021 and S. 1141 of 2021, which would increase the number of justices to 13. The number of justices on the Supreme Court has been fixed by federal law since 1869 and efforts to expand the size of the Supreme Court in the century and a half since have been met with significant resistance from the American people; and
Whereas, The legitimacy of the Supreme Court is its most valuable asset. The Supreme Court's ability to issue rulings which are followed nationwide rests on the American people's respect for the institution's independence and separation from day-to-day politics; and
Whereas, The federal judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court, must remain insulated from partisan disputes. Politicizing the Supreme Court by adding seats for the purpose of generating an ideological shift would be enormously detrimental for the public's faith in the judicial branch as an independent and impartial branch of government. The framers of the U.S. Constitution envisioned a system in which Supreme Court justices and federal judges would serve lifetime appointments, ensuring that the judiciary would not experience the kinds of political pressures that are present in the elected branches; and
Whereas, Subjecting the Supreme Court to major structural changes as a consequence of shifting partisan control of the executive and legislative branches would bring the judiciary into the political fray in a way that would harm its ability to fulfill its critical role in our system; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we discourage Congress from expanding the size of the Supreme Court of the United States; and be it further
Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.
