The battle to expand 'broken' supreme court

Wearing dark suit and sunglasses, Brian Fallon pointed at the gleaming US Capitol building to his left, then to the marble edifice of the supreme court to his right

- David Smith 

"If you look at any point in the last 40 years, Congress's public approval always hovers around 10%," said Fallon, a former justice department official who worked for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. "But the [supreme] court's is now in the 30s and that's a historical anomaly because there's always at least been the benefit of the doubt conferred upon the court." There is no better symbol of the crisis of trust in American institutions than its highest court, pummelled by partisan appointments, divisive rulings and ethical scandals. In a University of Chicago survey last year 18% of Americans said they had a great deal of confidence in the supreme court the lowest in half a century.

Congressional Democrats and allies such as Fallon, now head of the pressure group Demand Justice, believe they have a solution: expand the court by adding four seats to counter a rightward tilt during the Donald Trump administration that, they say, put it out of step with mainstream public opinion.

Last week, a group including senators Ed Markey, Tina Smith and Elizabeth Warren announced the reintroduction of legislation that would create a 13-justice bench.