Yes, the Supreme Court is too small to handle the workload. Roughly 9,000 to 10,000 requests (petitions) are filed each year asking the Supreme Court for review.
Between 80 and 100 are actually accepted by the Court.
The Supreme Court accepts less than 1% of the cases that petition for review. The lower courts don't have that luxury. Every case that is filed in the district court must be handled. It must be considered. After the district court issues a final ruling, the parties have the choice to seek appellate review from the circuit courts of appeal. Those appellate courts mustreview any case that follows the proper procedure for making the request for review. In 2019, the number of filings in the federal courts of appeals was 47,977.
What do you expect from 9 people? How are 9 people supposed to consider and rule on 10,000 cases in one year?
And why would We the People want 9 people deciding critical issues that affect our lives?
Here is another fact that seems to be lost on Americans: there is nothing magical about the number 9. (Perhaps the number 3 is a magic number, if School House Rock is to be believed, but there is nothing magical about the number 9).
The number of Supreme Court justices varied during the first one-hundred years of the court. The first court, under Chief Justice John Jay in 1789 had 6 justices. Yes, only 6. An even number. Yes, the Court could be evenly split on decisions.
Nothing in the Constitution forbids this.
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