A group of Democratic lawmakers reintroduced a bill on Tuesday that would create an additional four seats on the Supreme Court.
The move comes in the wake of a series of recent reports into the justices’ financial disclosures and the court’s landmark abortion decision, which has only added to Democrats’ scorn of the conservative-majority court.
“When a bully steals your lunch money in the schoolyard, you have to do something about it, or else the bully will come back over and over again. So we’re in this fight, and we’re going to reclaim these seats. We’re not going to allow the bully to win,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said at a press conference in front of the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Markey and other Democrats previously introduced the legislation roughly two years ago to create a 13-justice Supreme Court, one for each of the nation’s appeals courts.
Their reintroduced proposal follows the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and other major cases that moved the court to the right. Republicans have pushed back on the effort as an attempt by Democrats to weaponize the court.
The push also comes in the wake of a ProPublica investigation into undisclosed luxury trips that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted from GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. Thomas has defended the trips as falling under a personal hospitality exception under federal ethics laws.
“Today, a 6-3, far-right supermajority on the United States Supreme Court threatens our rights, our democracy and our planet. To restore our democracy, we must expand the United States Supreme Court, and we must do so now. Republicans captured the court against the will of most Americans,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.).
The two lawmakers were joined on Tuesday by Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.).
