Pete Buttigieg Calls for Major Supreme Court Reforms

Former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg appeared on Fox News to argue that public confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court has fallen to historic lows. He outlined three structural changes he believes would restore legitimacy: expanding the Court to 13 justices, imposing staggered 18-year term limits, and creating a “balanced bench” system that would allocate appointments between Democratic and Republican presidents and add consensus justices selected by the existing members.

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Congress, however, has altered the Court’s size several times, settling on nine seats in 1869 after periods ranging from six to ten members. The current composition is widely viewed as a 6-3 conservative majority, a factor that has shaped recent rulings on abortion, gun rights, presidential powers, and federal agency authority. Proposals to “court-pack” – expand the bench to shift its ideological balance – date back to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1937 plan, which was rejected by Congress.

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• Current membership: nine justices (Chief Justice John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Ketanji Brown Jackson).

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• Average age of sitting justices: approximately 61 years; oldest is Justice Thomas, youngest is Justice Barrett.

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• Buttigieg’s expansion target: 13 justices, matching the 13 federal judicial circuits.

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• Balanced-bench model described by Buttigieg would expand the Court to 15 seats, with ten appointed through the traditional presidential-Senate process (five Democratic, five Republican) and five “consensus” justices selected by the existing members.

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• Proposed term limits: 18-year staggered terms, allowing each president to nominate two justices per four-year term.

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Buttigieg emphasized that term limits would make future appointments more predictable and reduce the high-stakes political battles that accompany vacancies. While acknowledging the constitutional ambiguity surrounding term limits, he suggested Congress could enact staggered terms through legislation, with retired justices serving in limited capacities. He positioned the expansion to 13 seats as part of a broader reform package rather than a partisan power grab.

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• “There are a lot of interesting different ideas and proposals for how to do it,” — Pete Buttigieg

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