Recently, there has been a lot of talk about "court packing", the process of increasing the size of the Supreme Court, thereby creating openings to be filled with new justices. A common argument is that such a plan would destroy the stability, independence, and credibility of the Court and would lead to constant tit-for-tat packing each time control of Congress changed.
However, the size of the Supreme Court has changed multiple times throughout the 19th Century: from 6 in 1789, to 7 in 1807, to 9 in 1837, to 10 in 1863, then down to 7 in 1866 (via attrition, so it never dropped below 8), before returning to 9 in 1869. None of these changes seem to have damaged the Court and they didn't lead to the political chaos that so many people fear.
So, what is (or is not) different about today that makes a change in the size of the Supreme Court so dangerous (or not)?
