The U.S. Constitution established the Supreme Court but left it to Congress to decide how many justices should make up the court.
The Judiciary Act of 1789 set the number at six: a chief justice and five associate justices.
In 1807, Congress increased the number of justices to seven;
in 1837, the number was bumped up to nine;
and in 1863, it rose to 10.
In 1866, Congress passed the Judicial Circuits Act, which shrank the number of justices back down to seven and prevented President Andrew Johnson from appointing anyone new to the court.
Three years later, in 1869, Congress raised the number of justices to nine, where it has stood ever since.
In 1937, in an effort to create a court more friendly to his New Deal programs, President Franklin Roosevelt attempted to convince Congress to pass legislation that would allow a new justice to be added to the court—for a total of up to 15 members.
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http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/7-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-u-s-supreme-court
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I believe the way FDR’s plan worked was to add a new justice every time one hit a certain age.
What FDR did manage to do was intimidate the Court into approving most of his programs anyway.
We should quickly pass a bill reducing the number to eight, then repeal it after the next president takes office (assuming it’s one of ours.)