Yes. Congress has changed the size of the Supreme Court a number of times since the Court was first established in 1789. In most cases, they have expanded the Court to accommodate an increasing workload. But on at least two occasions, Congress used a reduction in the size of the Court to deprive a President of the opportunity to appoint new justices, as in the Judiciary Acts of 1801 and 1867.
In 1801, the Federalists reduced the size of the Court by one, with the hope that Thomas Jefferson would miss an opportunity to influence judicial ideology. Unfortunately for the Federalists, Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans took control of both houses of Congress and repealed the law before a vacancy occurred.
Congress used a similar tactic against Andrew Johnson in 1867 (after a failed attempt at impeachment) when they eliminated the seat of retired justice William Catron, reducing the size of the court from 9 to 8. In Johnson's case, the legislators were successful in preventing him from making an appointment.
After the election of President Ulysses S. Grant, Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1869, which set the Court's membership at nine. This number has remained the same ever since.
In 1937, Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted unsuccessfully to expand the membership of the court to gain support on the Court for his New Deal programs. He proposed adding one justice to the Supreme Court for every member over 70.5 years of age, with the potential of adding as many as six additional justices, for a total of 15. Congress refused to pass Roosevelt's legislation; however, the President had an opportunity to nominate eight justices* to vacancies that occurred during his terms of office, which created a court more receptive to his ideas.
Copyright © 2026 eLLeNow.com All Rights Reserved.
