Representative Green’s Original Legislation to increase from 9 to 13 the number of justices of the Supreme Court.
Key claim: HR8647 proposes expanding the U.S. Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices and has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
Abstract
(HR8647 · 119th Congress) Latest action (2026-05-04): Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Why this matters
Proposals to change the size of the Supreme Court directly affect the composition of the body that adjudicates civil rights, voting, reproductive, and due process cases, so shifts in the number of justices would materially reshape outcomes for affected groups. The bill’s introduction — without hearings or a markup — signals continued congressional interest in structural Court reform even where near-term enactment is unlikely, and it sits alongside parallel tenure and ethics proposals as a contested question about judicial legitimacy.