US President Joe Biden sees no point in expanding the nine-member Supreme Court despite disagreeing with recent court decisions on abortion and gun-carrying.
The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Americans have a constitutional right to carry a firearm outdoors, which states like New York and California had largely banned. On Friday, the court ruled that there is no federal right to abortion, but that it is up to states to decide. In 26 states, abortion will become illegal immediately or soon.
For some time now, the US has been calling for an extension of the Supreme Court, in order to get rid of the majority of the conservative members, who occupy six of the nine seats in the court. Senator Elizabeth Warren, among others, called for it last year. The US Constitution says nothing about the number of members the Supreme Court must have. The number of members has changed six times in history and stands at nine since 1869.
Although Biden does not plan to expand the court, he is looking for solutions to lapse the right to abortion, a spokesman said. Presidential decrees that Biden can issue to improve the situation are being looked into. But no decree can “fill the hole left by this ruling” of the court, the spokesman warns. “That can only be filled if Congress decides to act.”
Biden had already called on the US parliament in a speech on Friday to pass laws that establish the right to abortion.