Texas Senator Ted Cruz joined five other Republicans in the Senate this week to introduce a constitutional amendment that will keep the Democrats from packing the Supreme Court if they gain control of the Senate.
The amendment simply reads: “The Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine justices," according to The Hill.
It's a nice gesture. As we've covered previously, packing the court would totally polarize the highest court in the land, delegitimize their rulings, and lead to an ever-escalating number of justices as each party gains control of the Senate.
Limiting the number of justices via constitutional amendment would keep both parties from engaging in this kind of dangerous behavior, and ensure that the Supreme Court will remain (reasonably) non-partisan.
But let's be honest. Cruz's amendment has no chance of passing. With only five Republican co-sponsors, he probably wouldn't be able to get all of his colleagues to vote for it -- much less the Democrats.
And he'd need a huge number of votes. For Congress to propose an amendment, two-thirds of both chambers need to agree to it. It doesn't matter who controls Congress. These days, two-thirds of both chambers aren't voting for anything.
But We the People can still propose and ratify Cruz's amendment. How? With an Article V Convention of States.
Article V provides two methods for amending the Constitution. One begins in Congress, but the other begins at a "convention for proposing amendments," or, a Convention of States.
It take 34 states to call for such a convention, and we're already at 15 states. At this convention, states can propose constitutional amendments that limit the power of the federal government, impose term limits on federal officials, and force Congress to be fiscally responsible. As a limitation on federal power, limiting the number of justices would likely fall into the first category.
Once the convention proposes amendments, those amendments are sent back to the states and 38 states are necessary for ratification.
The Framers included the Convention of States process for exactly this scenario. The American people and the states know how dangerous Supreme Court packing would be, but Congress is refusing to act. Article V gives us a way to shore up our constitutional structure and end the threat of court packing once and for all.
Over four million Americans have voiced their support, and over 1.7 million Americans have signed the official Convention of States Petition. Will you join us?
