The US Congress has the authority to add more seats to the Supreme Court, and has done so in the past. However, for almost 150 years it has stayed at 9 seats. Has any president tried to add seats to the Supreme Court since then, to stack it in his favour? If so, how did that end?

by Zygomatico

Edit: additionally, two questions. How was the response to previous expansions, and how were ties decided in a court with an even amount of members?

Cubs1081744

The last president in recent memory to attempt this is Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1937. Having experienced difficulty pushing through some of his New Deal policies due to a few of them being considered unconstitutional, FDR sought to pass the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, which would grant the President the power to appoint a new justice for every justice over the age of 70 years, 6 months, up to 6 justices. This bill is colloquially known as the “court-packing” plan. This would potentially give him 6 new justices to bring the total to 15, though I am not sure exactly how many judicial appointments he would be granted at the implementation of the bill. Based on all my years studying American governmental and political history, this is the last time a President has tried to “pack the courts”, so to speak. The bill made it all the way to the Senate Judiciary Committee where it was held up in committee for the maximum 165 day’s and was ultimately defeated there. It did not see a full Senate vote.