Pingree signs onto bill to expand U.S. Supreme Court

Oct. 13—U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree announced Wednesday she was cosponsoring a bill that would expand the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court from nine to 13 members.

In a press release, Pingree, a Democrat representing Maine's 1st District, said the move is meant to counter "years of norm-breaking actions" by Republicans and restore balance to the nation's highest court.

"In over a century, we have not had a more partisan Supreme Court than the one we have today," Pingree said. "We must expand the court to balance the right wing court-packing that happened under former President Trump."

Pingree said inaction from the court in recent weeks prompted her decision to join as a cosponsor on the bill being offered by U.S. Congressman Hank Johnson, D-Georgia.

The bill expands the number of justices to equal the number of federal appellate courts.

"Last month, these justices failed to act and allowed a near-half-century precedent to be discarded without a second thought," Pingreee said. "Our laws must be interpreted by neutral jurists who are driven by fact and precedent, not partisans bent on attacking our constitutional rights."

Known as the Judiciary Act, the bill is likely to face an uphill battled in a closely divided Congress, where the Senate is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats. Since 2016, Democrats have debated whether to try expanding the court noting the decision that year by then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, to refuse to consider a Supreme Court nomination by former President Barack Obama. At the time, McConnell said the next president and not the current one should be the one to make the nomination for the lifetime appointment to the court.

That move allowed Republican President Donald Trump to successfully appoint three new conservative justices to the court, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett in late 2020, even as Americans had already begun to cast their votes for president that year. Trump was also successful in appointing Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

Pingree joins 35 other members of Congress in supporting the bill to expand the court. Maine's 2nd District Congressman Jared Golden, also a Democrat, has not yet said whether he supports expanding the court.

This story will be updated.