Embiggen SCOTUS!

If the Democrats win the presidency in 2008 and make gains in Congress, I think that they should pass legislation increasing the number of Supreme Court Justices to 15 or more. The current gang of 9 can’t seem to consider as many cases as they ought to, and there are so many 5 to 4 decisions that it does not appear that there is much of a consensus on decisions of great importance. Such a small court is subject to such rank politicization (witness Bush v Gore) that its legitimacy is questionable. Also, with 15 Justices, each individual appointment won’t be so fraught, and it would be more likely that successive administrations would get to make appointments. Finally, some of the more demented old codgers on the court might not feel obliged to hang around to make sure their successors will be ideological similar to them.