In fact, Lincoln & the GOP resisted calls to pack the Court in 1863. Stephen Field's seat left a 6-4 D-appointed majority (Field was a D himself), 1 seat was added bc there were 8 new states, no circuit Justice for CA & OR (Field was from CA).https://twitter.com/MondaireJones/status/1384991134498365440 …
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It was only at the end of the war that R-appointed Justices gained a majority. It is fairer to characterize what the Radical Republicans did in 1866-69 as Court-packing, but it remains inseparable from the immediate aftermath of the Civil War & the Johnson impeachment.pic.twitter.com/HObyHax7h6
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The changes to the Court's size between 1807-69 were intimately tied to the circuit-riding system & the geographic expansion to the country. As soon as circuit-riding was ended, there was never another expansion of the Court bc there was never another practical case for it.
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Stephen Field actually stayed in CA a few months after his appointment to SCOTUS to preside over a treason trial of some Confederates who tried to hijack a ship in San Francisco & lead the state out of the Union.
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