GOP Amendment to Block Supreme Court Expansion Falls Short as Democrats Unite in Opposition

A Republican-led proposal to amend the Constitution and permanently prevent Congress from expanding the Supreme Court reportedly failed in the House after Democrats voted unanimously against the measure.

The proposed amendment required support from two-thirds of the House to advance but fell well short of that threshold. Lawmakers voted 212-206, with the chamber splitting along party lines.

Democrats have never supported such a constitutional amendment, giving Republicans an opportunity to accuse the party of wanting to “pack the court” by adding liberal justices. GOP lawmakers and campaign officials quickly seized on the vote as a potential issue heading into the midterm elections.

Rep. Brad Knott, R-N.C., a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said the party-line outcome did not surprise him, though he argued that Democrats understood the potential political consequences of opposing the proposal.

“Democrats are very clear. They want to pack the court,” Knott said. “We want to maintain the normalcy and stick with the process that we’ve done for a long time.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect and support Republican House candidates, moved quickly to turn the failed amendment into campaign messaging.

Minutes after the vote, NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella released a statement claiming Democrats opposed the amendment because they wanted the ability to pursue what he called a “radical socialist agenda.”

“Give House Democrats an ounce of power, and they’ll use every bit of it to fundamentally transform America into an unrecognizable socialist hellscape,” Marinella said.

The future of the Supreme Court has long been an energizing issue for Republican voters and candidates. Republicans have opposed efforts to expand the court since the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt and are eager to highlight controversial Democratic proposals during the midterm campaign.

Some Democrats have floated adding seats to the Supreme Court for years, particularly after the current justices issued decisions favoring the Trump administration.

However, most House Democrats, including members of the party’s leadership, dismissed the constitutional amendment as a political stunt. The resolution was introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.

Democrats argued that Republicans scheduled the vote primarily to excite conservative voters before the midterms. They believe Americans will be more focused on the rising cost of living under President Donald Trump’s second term when they cast their ballots.

“This is such a fake issue that Republicans are putting on,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar of California told reporters. “I understand why they’re putting it on, [but] the American public aren’t asking about this.”

Aguilar said he traveled extensively during the long summer break but did not hear voters express concern about changing the number of Supreme Court justices.

“Nowhere ever are people saying, ‘You know what we should do? We should cap the number of Supreme Court justices,’” Aguilar said.
Despite the amendment’s defeat, the party-line vote ensures that the debate over expanding the court will remain available to Republicans as they seek to draw a sharp contrast with Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.