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2019 Pepp. L. Rev. Ann. 1 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/pnelwrwan2019 and id is 1 raw text is: 









A   Call   for  America's


                         Law Professors to Oppose

                                           Court-Packing



                                                   Bruce Ledewitz*

                            Abstract
A Court-packing  proposal is imminent. Mainstream  Democratic
Party Presidential Candidates are already supporting it. The num-
ber of Justices on the Supreme Court has been set at nine since
1869, but this is merely a statutory requirement. As soon as Dem-
ocrats regain control of the Presidency and the Congress, Court-
packing will be on the agenda, either expressly or under the guise
of Court-reform. Now   is the time for the American legal academy
to join together to oppose this threat. Court-packing would
threaten democracy,  destroy the rule of law and undermine judi-
cial independence. It is a pointless and unnecessary reaction born
offrustration and nihilism. It can be defeated, but only ifAmer-
ica's law professors act now.










   * Professor of Law, Duquesne University School of Law. A version of this paper was prepared
for the Conference on Amending America's Unwritten Constitution held at Boston College in May
2019. My thanks to Richard Albert, Ryan Williams and Yaniv Roznai for convening the Conference
and to Dean Vikram Amar for his willingness to read and comment on papers for the Conference.


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