IMO, it ought to be an even number. It would help make the court less active and more (operationally) conservative by requiring them to have more consensus in their rulings.

The US Senate has a hard time passing new bills precisely because it reflects the growing ideological divide in this country. This should be a time for less activism and more consensus-building, not less.

Why? Justices recuse themselves in some cases, so ties are already possible. I believe the lower court ruling is upheld in those cases.

They recuse in some cases but not most. Given that all Justices are expected but not guaranteed to vote in cases, it makes the most sense to have an odd number to minimize the cases of ties.

Assuming the case is close enough that a tie is plausible. There are plenty of 9-0 and 7-2 decisions: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/0...

>The 5-to-4 decisions, by comparison, occurred in 19 percent of cases.