Elizabeth Warren calls for expansion of Supreme Court, saying current court is a threat to democracy
By Chandelis Duster, CNN
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday called for the US Supreme Court to be expanded with more justices and said that the current court “threatens the democratic foundations of our nation.”
“With each move, the court shows why it’s important to restore America’s faith in an independent judiciary committed to the rule of law,” Warren wrote in an opinion article published by The Boston Globe. “To do that, I believe it’s time for Congress to yet again use its constitutional authority to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court.”
The Democrat wrote that she did not “come to this conclusion lightly” or because she disagreed with a particular decision but that she came to the conclusion because she believes “the current court threatens the democratic foundations of our nation.”
Her call to expand the high court made up of nine justices comes less than a week after it left in place a Texas abortion law that bars the procedure after the first six weeks of pregnancy and after public approval of the Supreme Court has dropped in recent months. The Supreme Court said that abortion providers have the right to challenge the law in federal court and that the case will return to a district court for further proceedings.
A commission set up by President Joe Biden to explore changes to the Supreme Court concluded in a draft final report earlier this month there was “profound” disagreement over whether to add more seats but suggested more consensus for term limits for the justices without taking a final position on the issue.
Other Democrats have called for more justices to be added to the high court which currently has a conservative majority while Democratic leadership has opposed the effort. Earlier this year, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated she did not support a bill at the time pushed by some Democrats to expand the court and did not intend to bring it to the House floor for a vote.
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CNN’s Ariane de Vogue and Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.
