Expanding the court is a band aid idea that will never end well. Within a few short years the court will be the size of congress.
No, it’s a really good idea. It accomplishes a bunch of really good things for the country.
1) acts as a check and balance on the judicial branch, which has gotten entirely out of control. Implicit in this should be the threat that if the judiciary continues to try and usurp the powers of the other branches, more expansions are coming. I mean right now judges are demanding the right to control US foreign policy in some cases. This is insanity.
2) expanding the court will end SCOTUS shenanigans. Sure we might have a few expansions back and forth but the end result will be to broker a deal to end this once and for all. As it stands now huge swaths of the country are basically governed by when an octogenarian decides to have a heart attack. This is not a serious way to run a country.
3) Just from a good governance standpoint we should expand the court to say 51 judges or something. The costs are minimal and with that many it wouldn’t matter if one judge died or retired. Would take the temperature way down on the judicial wars and would limit wild swings in policy. Think of it now - since the 70’s abortion was a constitutional right. RBG does? Suddenly (likely) no longer a right. Thomas dies? Suddenly a right again! Is that a good way to do things?
I'm approaching the point where I'd rather see an AI as the entire supreme court. I want the politics out, the constitution in.
Everyone claims to want that but it’s impossible as both sides say that’s what they are doing. SCOTUS is inherently political and it’s time people accepted that.