WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) today sent a letter to President Biden’s new Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, reminding the commission that Congress has exclusive authority to amend or preserve the U.S. Supreme Court, and criticizing President Biden for establishing the commission just to appease the most radical members of his base. Last week, Sen. Cruz remarked on the commission’s first meeting, urging it to abandon President Biden’s radical agenda and “defend the independence of the Supreme Court and prevent the court from being used as a partisan weapon.”
Sen. Cruz has long led the fight to protect the independence of the judiciary. In February, he introduced the “Keep Nine” constitutional amendment – legislation backed by 18 Senators and 173 Members of the House of Representatives – to prevent the expansion or contraction of the Supreme Court, and a second legislative proposal that would stop Democrats from unilaterally passing any Court-packing legislation in the United States Senate. Sen. Cruz previously introduced these proposals in October 2020.
In the letter, the lawmakers wrote:
“Despite the President’s inability to alter the Supreme Court, President Biden established your commission to pacify the far left. We write to remind you that Article III, Section 1 states ‘The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.’ As such, Congress retains exclusive authority to amend or preserve the Supreme Court.”