In response to the letter “Now is time to expand U.S. Supreme Court” (April 17), I went to the U.S. Courts website to see if more justices are really needed. The gist of the letter was that more cases would be heard if there were more justices.
If you read the U.S. Supreme Court procedures for hearing cases, it only take four justices to determine if a case would be selected for review. Of all the cases submitted, only those that would affect the citizens of the entire country are selected. When each case is heard, each justice speaks and renders his or her opinion prior to the final vote, so that the more justices there are, the longer it would take for the resolution of the case.
So more justices would mean longer trials and fewer cases, not what the letter suggests.
Stan Lakey
Wilmington
