>
Article snippet: Talk of adding justices to the Supreme Court has suddenly become a hot topic among Democrats stung by the Senate GOP’s blocking of former President Obama’s last pick — and its subsequent success in confirming two justices nominated by MORE. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) said the idea of adding justices to the Supreme Court was worth “exploring,” a position other Democratic candidates have also embraced. This would be a radical change for a court that has had nine justices since 1869. But before the Civil War, the number of justices on the court actually flipped around a number of times — often due to political differences between the parties of the time. The Judiciary Act of 1789 placed six justices on the Supreme Court. Over the next 80 years, that number changed several times, however, with the court sometimes having fewer than 9 justices and also having as many as 10 justices. At the time of the Judiciary Act's passage, there were 11 states. The court was expanded in the 19th century largely in response to the country's geographic growth, which resulted in an increased number of court cases and subsequent changes to the circuit court system. A 2007 New York Times opinion piece by Jean Edward Smith points out that these appointments also often had political motivations. Smith noted that a Congress controlled by Federalists that had just been defeated in the 1800 election reduced the high court's size to just five justices in 1800 to try to give Thomas J... Link to the full article to read more