1 in 3 Voters Support ‘Packing’ the Supreme Court — Even Fewer Want it to Be Liberal: New Survey

Saul Loeb, Getty Images

A third of registered voters would support Democrats if they sought to “pack” the Supreme Court, according to a survey released Wednesday, but just one in 10 would want to see a liberal majority on the court in that scenario.

The Washington Examiner/YouGov study found 34 percent of registered voters surveyed said they would support Democrats if they sought to expand the size of the court beyond nine members, while 47 percent said they were opposed. Sixty percent of Democrats said they were supported the idea, while 18 percent were opposed and 22 percent were undecided. Independents opposed the idea 45-32 percent, while Republicans opposed it 84-5 percent.

In the event the court gained members, 11 percent of voters said they would like to see the majority be “overwhelmingly liberal,” while 47 percent said they would want it to be balanced.

The survey was conducted on Sunday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percent.

The issue of expanding the size of the court — or “court-packing” — has been a subject of speculation since Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death September 18. The Senate is tentatively set to confirm President Donald Trump’s appointee to replace Ginsburg, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett, on October 26. She would be the third member of the court appointed by Trump after Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 and Neil Gorsuch in 2017.

By contrast, former President Barack Obama, appointed just two members — Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor — during his eight years in office, and just one Democratic appointee on the court, 82-year-old Justice Stephen Breyer, is likely to retire in the next decade.

The Constitution does not prohibit Congress from changing the size of the court, but its size hasn’t changed since 1869. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has declined to answer whether he would pursue any change if he is elected.

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