Rep. Dusty Johnson pushes bill to ‘Keep the Nine’ at the Supreme Court

Published: Jan. 13, 2023 at 3:22 PM EST

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - When the first Supreme Court was established back in 1789, there were six judges.

In 1869, they increased that number to 9 justices, where it’s been ever since.

South Dakota Republican Congressman Dusty Johnson is now introducing a “Keep the Nine” bill, which would solidify that number forever.

The idea is the make 9 the constitutional number, which would protect the size of the court from whichever party is in power.

“People understand that the size of the Supreme Court should not just ping pong up and down based on whatever the most recent election results were,” said Johnson.

The current Supreme Court regained this conservative majority with justices appointed under the trump administration -

Democrats have expressed concern that these Supreme Court appointments are life-time positions in which voters have no say.

This “Keep the Nine” bill currently has 97 co-sponsors, all of whom are Republicans.