Ginsburg dismisses court packing and term limits for Supreme Court justices

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Tuesday dismissed proposals to pack the court and put term limits on justices, two controversial ideas for reforming the Supreme Court.

“Nine seems to be a good number. It’s been that way for a long time,” Ginsburg said, speaking to NPR.

{mosads}Former Attorney General Eric Holder and 2020 Democratic candidates like South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke have recently elevated the idea of expanding the court beyond nine justices.

“I think it was a bad idea when President Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack the court,” Ginsburg noted.

In 1937, Roosevelt proposed expanding the court to as many as 15 judges in a plan that was delayed by a Senate committee. At the time it was speculated that Roosevelt’s proposal put political pressure on the justices in cases before the court.

Ginsburg in the interview also dismissed the idea of term limits for justices, a concept that gained renewed bipartisan interest late last year amid concerns over the health of older justices. 

“Our Constitution is powerfully hard to amend,” Ginsburg said, noting it calls for life terms for federal judges.