The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court in our land.  It is composed of 9 justices (judges).  Justices are appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.  The role of the court is to judge cases objectively and not participate in partisan politics.  The Constitution designed the Court to be a non-partisan, non-political institution.  Once confirmed to the Court, justices serve for life and are not subject to re-election by the people. That said, many fear the Court has become political and that Supreme Court justices make decisions based on their personal political views, perhaps consistent with the political views of the President who appointed them to the Court. Mayor Pete Buttigieg (a former presidential candidate and current Biden nominee to head the Department of Transportation) proposed to change the Supreme Court by increasing the number of justices from 9 to 15.  Under this proposal, 5 justices would be affiliated with the Democratic party, 5 justices would be affiliated with the Republican party, and the remaining 5 would be chosen jointly by the other justices.  (Links to an external site.) This proposal has received even more attention recently as some Democrats are pushing Congress to expand the Court in response to what they feel was an unfair replacement of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg so close to the 2020 presidential election.  The current Court-- with the recent addition of Justice Amy Comey Barrett-- now has a solid conservative majority and could stay that way for decades, absent a change in the structure of the Court.   Setting aside your views on the recent presidential election (which are not relevant to this discussion), please discuss the proposal.  What are the advantages and disadvantages of the proposal?  Do you agree with the proposal?   Why or why not?