Jeffries says Democrats would overhaul Supreme Court if they regain power

Court bill would face 60-vote Senate filibuster hurdle

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Thursday that Democrats would overhaul the Supreme Court if they regain power in Washington, telling reporters at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Atlanta that a “variety of different options” remain under consideration and that the party “can’t foreclose on any single one of them.”

In remarks reported by The Wall Street Journal, Jeffries said the court’s conservative wing had become a “subsidiary” of President Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. He described Democrats’ message to voters as “fighting for an affordable America” and said the party would “hold the crooks accountable,” alleging corruption in the White House and the Trump administration.

The options Democrats are weighing include adding justices, imposing 18-year terms, and creating a binding judicial code of ethics. The Constitution does not set the size of the court, and during the Great Depression President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed expanding it to as many as 15 justices after several New Deal laws were blocked.

The court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority that has issued rulings ending the right for women to get an abortion and voiding rules meant to protect the representation of Black voters in the South. The same court has also ruled against Trump in high-profile cases, blocking his tariffs and his effort to end birthright citizenship.

Several prominent Democrats have begun to specify the changes they favor. Former Vice President Kamala Harris said last month that the court should number 13 justices, not nine. Colin Allred, the Democratic nominee for a Texas House seat, wrote on Substack that Democrats should “expand the court,” “institute 18-year term limits” and “pass a binding judicial code of ethics” because “[t]his court has sacrificed its legitimacy.” The Democratic Socialists of America has called for replacing the court entirely, and a group of Senate Democrats reintroduced legislation in July that would create 18-year terms and regularized biennial appointments.

Even with majorities in both chambers and the White House, the procedural math remains steep. Any court-related bill would require 60 votes in the 100-member Senate unless Democrats end or change the filibuster rule, and Trump could veto any measure until his term ends in January 2029.

Public opinion is divided. A May survey by Marquette Law School found Americans evenly split on expanding the court, with 50% in favor and 50% opposed. The court’s overall approval rating stood at 46%.

Republicans currently hold the House 219 to 212, the chamber Democrats are working to flip. Asked whether Democrats might fall short in November, Jeffries said “failure is not an option” and joked that “if the Knicks just won the championship…the Democratic comeback can take place.”

Trump has urged Republicans to kill the filibuster rule while they still hold the Senate, warning that Democrats would otherwise reshape the court. Late last year, he said the party’s “number one policy push is the complete and total OBLITERATION of our great United States Supreme Court.”