Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to require that the Supreme Court of the United States be composed of nine justices.

Would set the Supreme Court's size at nine justices in the Constitution — only if three-fourths of the states agree within seven years.

The details

You would notice nothing next year, and maybe never. This would write the size of the Supreme Court into the Constitution: nine justices, one chief and eight associates. Today that number sits in an ordinary law, one Congress can change by passing another law. Moving it into the Constitution would mean the size could only be changed by a new amendment. The road is long and it may go nowhere. Two-thirds of the House and two-thirds of the Senate would have to agree. Then three-fourths of the state legislatures would have to ratify it. The text gives them seven years from the day it is sent out. Miss that window and the amendment dies. Nothing takes effect until all of it is done. So far a House committee has reported the measure, and it sits on the House Calendar. That means it can be called up for a floor vote. Neither chamber has passed it. A proposed amendment does not go to the President for a signature. The change is real but narrow. It is about who gets to decide how many seats the Court has, not about who sits in them or how they rule. No case, filing, or right of yours changes on the day it takes effect.