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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. 1