A few months ago, Kevin Kruse, a historian at Princeton University, explained that Franklin Roosevelt’s court-packing plan in 1937 failed to gain traction for a foundational reason: The Supreme Court was still widely perceived at the time as apolitical, making presidential encroachment seem like an unwarranted abuse.

“This court, however, is nakedly partisan,” Kruse added. “And any Democrat in power should be saying so early and often.”

There’s ample public opinion research to suggest that attitudes toward the high court have, in fact, shifted significantly in recent years. The latest Pew Research Center poll, for example, released two weeks ago, showed favorable views of the institution hovering at generational lows. The same week, the latest Gallup poll showed public confidence in the Supreme Court falling to a record low of just 33%.

As for Kruse’s advice to Democratic officials, many of the party’s leaders and prominent voices appear to be thinking along similar lines. NBC News reported:

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said today that he is in favor of “dramatic” Supreme Court reform and intends to push for it should Democrats flip the House come November.

“The Supreme Court, the conservative right-wing majority on the Supreme Court, has become basically a subsidiary of the MAGA Republican Party,” Jeffries said in an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention in Atlanta.

The Democratic leader, who will be positioned to be elected speaker if the party takes back the House majority, said the justices seem to believe “the status quo is acceptable. It’s not.”

Jeffries didn’t elaborate on the specific reforms he had in mind, though the New York Democrat said there are “a variety of different options that are on the table,” and he’s not prepared to “foreclose any single one of them.”

If it seems leading Democratic voices are embracing similar stances with increasing frequency and enthusiasm, it’s not your imagination. Just two weeks ago, former Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the National Urban League’s annual conference and said, “We need to revisit the point of expanding the court to 13 justices like we have 13 district courts.”

A month earlier, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro voiced support for “radical reform” to the Supreme Court, which came on the heels of Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia agreeing that “all options have to be on the table” when it comes to changing the high court.

This week, Sen. Adam Schiff of California wrote an opinion piece for The Los Angeles Times, making the case for “urgent” reform.

“It’s no secret that the Supreme Court has become an extension of our partisan politics over the past decade,” Schiff said in his op-ed. “The decisions handed down in the 2026 session prove just how broken the court has become and how unrepresentative it is of the views of the American people.”

In the coming months, there will likely be plenty of debate among advocates about the kind of changes to pursue and the political viability of the competing ideas. It’s also a safe bet that many reformers will disagree with one another about the details. But the bottom line remains the same: In Democratic politics, the conversation has shifted rapidly to how, not whether, to reform the Supreme Court.

As many in the party start eyeing the 2028 presidential race, don’t be surprised if this becomes a litmus-test issue for many Democratic voters.

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