Clarence Thomas warns against packing the Supreme Court

On Friday, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the most senior justice on the nine-member court, warned that attempts to politicize or add additional justices to the nation's high court could "compromise" the institution's integrity.

"You can cavalierly talk about packing or stacking the court. You can cavalierly talk about doing this or doing that. At some point the institution is going to be compromised," Thomas said at a Utah event hosted by former Republican US Sen. Orrin Hatch's foundation, according to the Associated Press.

"By doing this, you continue to chip away at the respect of the institutions that the next generation is going to need if they’re going to have civil society," he added.

Democrat leaders have called for expansions to the court in recent years to counteract the conservative justices placed on the bench during the Trump administration. According to the Associated Press, Democrat congressional members introduced a bill last year to expand the court by four justices, and President Joe Biden had convened a commission to study this expansion.