The process

[samintx]

The President nominates someone for a vacancy on the Court and the Senate votes to confirm the nominee, which requires a simple majority. In this way, both the Executive and Legislative Branches of the federal government have a voice in the composition of the Supreme Court.


How long does it take for a Supreme Court justice to be confirmed?
According to the Congressional Research Service, the average number of days from nomination to final Senate vote since 1975 is 67 days (2.2 months), while the median is 71 days (or 2.3 months). Some believe this is because Congress sees Justices as playing a more political role than in the past.

But as posted there is no limit to the number on the court. However, that could become a circus over the years.



Who decides how many Justices are on the Court? Have there always been nine?

The Constitution places the power to determine the number of Justices in the hands of Congress. The first Judiciary Act, passed in 1789, set the number of Justices at six, one Chief Justice and five Associates. Over the years Congress has passed various acts to change this number, fluctuating from a low of five to a high of ten. The Judiciary Act of 1869 fixed the number of Justices at nine and no subsequent change to the number of Justices has occurred.

[btfc]

.

[Ca Bob]

Well, the U.S. has a population 8 times larger than it was back in 1869 when the court was set at 9 justices. The size of the court has actually been reduced at least once, although I am not aware as to whether any sitting justice had to be dropped, or whether they just adjusted the size of the court to the number who were already on it.

If the Democrats run the table in the election, they should increase the size of the court to 15 and appoint new justices who don't fit the Federalist model.

[AllGold]

Or they could reduce it to 6 or 7 and say "Last in-first out". :wink:

[DeusxMac]

Ca Bob wrote:
Well, the U.S. has a population 8 times larger than it was back in 1869 when the court was set at 9 justices.

Please explain how and why the population size should have any bearing on the number of Supreme Court justices.

[Lemon Drop]

There are many good reasons beyond simple politics to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court. Not 9 to 11, but more like 27.


This article from 2018 does a good job making that case.

https://time.com/5338689/supreme-court-packing/

[Sam3]

Lemon Drop wrote:
There are many good reasons beyond simple politics to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court. Not 9 to 11, but more like 27.


This article from 2018 does a good job making that case.

https://time.com/5338689/supreme-court-packing/

Interesting thoughts in that article. Thanks for posting it.

[DeusxMac]

Lemon Drop wrote:
There are many good reasons beyond simple politics to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court. Not 9 to 11, but more like 27.


This article from 2018 does a good job making that case.

https://time.com/5338689/supreme-court-packing/

Growing (or decreasing) the size of the court in direct proportion to the population is not actually one of the justifications put forth by this article.