Expanding The Supreme Court

[Anomalocaris]

Bullshit.

Definition, especially arbitrarily ones,  do not motivate anyone.  values do.

The definition of democracy is not worth the paper it is written on for any practical purpose if The value of democracy is not attractive.  A state without any deep habit of cultural unity will not last if it does not provide an attractive value.

United States lasted because it provided sufficiently convincing promise of satisfying the demands of the democratic value.

Then U.S. has prospered because of the available resources, vast amounts of arable land, the lack of any permafrost to disrupt rail travel, the seven seaports that are open year-round, and our willingness to engage in violence to get what we want like when we dropped nukes to end a war. Oh, and we happen to pay lip service to the citizenry by having a vaguely democratic system.

We have propped up the value of the dollar by making it the world's reserve currency first by vast gold storage and then by somehow forcing all oil trades to be conducted in USD. There are many other examples of economic shenanigans, you just have to pay attention. The story of America is bloody and savage and has much less to do with careful nation building and more do with grit, determination, and bloody-mindedness.
And to the OP, I can't imagine the Dems beefing up the number of judges without touching off an arms race that will eventually lead to 52 judges at least, one for every state and one each for PR and DC! Won't that speed up our justice system!?

You think the mere abundance of natural resource is sufficient to prevent excess economic and political abuse, and discourage the people From seeking redress for the abuse by revolt and division of the state?    A system where large percentage of those that draw the short straw thinks the straw is given largely fairly. And a viable method of redress, and a system that does not permanently marginalize them due to the short straw, is necessary.

As to arms race, bring on the arm race.  When one side cheat ostentatiously and succeeds in gaining the advantage, and don’t give it up voluntarily, only all out arms race can mitigate their ill gotten advantage, while demonstrating that the eventual penalty of cheating Is so high as to ensure others are dissuaded from making cheating the permanent preferred method of business.