Senate GOP proposes constitutional amendment to keep Supreme Court at 9 seats

Senate Republicans are moving to keep the Supreme Court at nine justices as a growing number of Democratic 2020 contenders have expressed an openness to expanding it.

Roughly a dozen Republican senators introduced the resolution on Monday that would keep the Supreme Court at nine justices.

"The Democrats' court-packing proposal represents the latest shortsighted effort to undermine America's confidence in our institutions and our democracy," Sen. Marco Rubio

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He added that he was introducing the constitutional amendment "to prevent the delegitimizing of the Supreme Court."

GOP Sens. Pat Toomey

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The Senate resolution would specify that the Supreme Court "shall be composed of not more than 9 justices." A similar resolution was introduced in the House late last week.

Enacting a constitutional amendment would be an uphill battle, if not an impossible goal. The amendment would first need to win over two-thirds of both chambers of Congress, and then be ratified by three-fourths of the states.

But Rubio first announced last week that he would introduce the amendment after several Democratic White House contenders, including a handful that are Rubio's Senate colleagues, expressed an openness to expanding the Supreme Court or enacting other judicial reforms, including term limits.

Both Sens. Elizabeth Warren

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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

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Supporters argue that President Trump

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But Rubio countered in a Fox News op-ed last week that trying to expand the courts had become a "litmus test" for White House hopefuls and stemmed from an "ugly, winner-take-all rhetoric" among progressives.