applying to the United States Congress under Article V of the United States Constitution to call for a convention proposing an amendment to the constitution fixing the number of justices of the United States Supreme Court at one chief justice and eight associate justices.

26.196.17 101st Legislative Session SJR502

2026 South Dakota Legislature
Senate Joint Resolution 502

Introduced by: Senator Rohl

Underscores indicate new language.
Overstrikes indicate deleted language.
A JOINT RESOLUTION applying to the United States Congress under Article V of the 1
United States Constitution to call for a convention proposing an amendment 2
to the constitution fixing the number of justices of the United States Supreme 3
Court at one chief justice and eight associate justices. 4
Section 1. WHEREAS, the United States Constitution does not set the number of justices that 5
comprise the United States Supreme Court, but leaves it to Congress to ordain and establish 6
both the Supreme Court and all inferior federal Courts; and 7
Section 2. WHEREAS, the number of Supreme Court justices has been used in the past as a 8
political tool, with the number of justices being increased or decreased in order to allow or 9
prevent presidents from being able to appoint justices to the court; and 10
Section 3. WHEREAS, in the Judiciary Act of 1789, the First Congress set the number of 11
Supreme Court justices at six, with one chief justice and five associate justices; and 12
Section 4. WHEREAS, in the wake of the election of 1800, Congress passed the Judiciary Act 13
of 1801, and reduced the number of Supreme Court justices from six to five, effective upon 14
the next vacancy in the Court, in order to deprive the President -elect, Thomas Jefferson, of 15
the ability to fill the vacancy; and 16
Section 5. WHEREAS, Congress repealed the Judiciary Act of 1801 in January 1802, restoring 17
the number of Supreme Court justices to six; and 18
Section 6. WHEREAS, in response to the increasing workload of the court, Congress increased 19
the number of justices from six to seven in 1807, from seven to nine in 1837, and from nine 20
to ten in 1863; and 21
Section 7. WHEREAS, in 1866, Congress again reduced the number of justices from ten to 22
seven, effective upon the seats becoming vacant, to deprive President Andrew Johnson of the 23
opportunity to fill the vacancies; and 24
26.196.17 2 SJR502
Underscores indicate new language.
Overstrikes indicate deleted language.
Section 8. WHEREAS, in 1869, under President Ulysses Grant, Congress increased the 1
number of justices from seven to nine; and 2
Section 9. WHEREAS, the number of Supreme Court justices has remained at nine since 3
1869, despite the attempt made by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1937 to increase the 4
number of justices on the court and reshape the federal judiciary, in response to what 5
Roosevelt perceived as unfavorable rulings made by the court on policies enacted in response 6
to the Great Depression; 7
Section 10. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Legislature of the State of South 8
Dakota, that an application is hereby made to the Congress of the United States, as provided 9
by Article V of the United States Constitution, to call a convention solely for the purpose of 10
proposing an amendment to the United States Constitution fixing the number of justices of 11
the United States Supreme Court at one chief justice and eight associate justices; and 12
Section 11. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the secretary of state shall transmit copies of 13
this application to the president and secretary of the United States Senate; to the speaker 14
and clerk of the United States House of Representatives; to the chairman of the Judiciary 15
Committee of the United States House of Representatives and the chairman of the Judiciary 16
Committee of the United States Senate; and to the presiding officers of each legislative house 17
in the several states, requesting their cooperation; and 18
Section 12. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this application constitutes a continuing 19
application in accordance with Article V of the United States Constitution, until the legislatures 20
of two-thirds of the several states have made applications to Congress calling for a convention 21
to fix the number of justices of the United States Supreme Court at one chief justice and eight 22
associate justices; and 23
Section 13. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this application must be aggregated with the 24
applications of the other states for the same purpose, provided that this application is not 25
aggregated with any other application that seeks a convention to address any other issue. 26