Historical Context
"While at first the [Supreme] Court had accepted most of Roosevelt's programs, in the previous two years [1935 and 1936], led by Chief Justice Hughes, it had ruled in several cases that the executive branch had unconstitutionally assumed powers reserved for the legislature."
-University of Virginia |
"The anti–New Deal forces started literally thousands of legal actions to stop the fulfillment of programs which the President had initiated, the Congress had legislated, and the people in landslide elections had approved." |
FDR's Acts Ruled Unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court
Hover over the names of the acts at the bottom to view the case where the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional.
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"Emboldened by his landslide electoral victory in the election of 1936 and frustrated with an old, conservative Supreme Court, to which he had yet been able to appoint a justice and that he perceived was intent on slowing down the progress of the New Deal, President Roosevelt made a bold and perhaps miscalculated decision to direct an internal shift in the power of the judicial branch."
-University of Virginia |
Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1939
". . . under the proposed new law, when any federal judge (not just on the Supreme Court) with at least ten years’ service remained on the bench for more than six months after reaching the age of seventy, the President could add a new judge to that court."
-Richard G. Menaker, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
-Richard G. Menaker, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
"FDR’s message generated an intensity of response unmatched by any legislative controversy in this century." |
"The [Judicial Reform] Bill contains several provisions which are definitely a step in the right direction. It provides that the Attorney General shall be given notice of constitutional questions involved in private litigation and accords the Government the right to defend the constitutionality of the law of the land. No longer must the Government stand idly by, a helpless spectator, while Acts of Congress are stricken down by the Courts." |
Legacy
"Despite the president’s idealistic goals, the fight over the court-packing scheme and the recession of 1937 weakened Roosevelt politically. Although he pushed ahead with a new series of New Deal programs, his successes were far more limited than they had been in previous years."
-Mike Mosall
In his eagerness to protect his New Deal policies and defeat the Great Depression, Roosevelt's leadership went awry with the Court Packing Plan. If successful, the plan would have disturbed the government's checks and balances. The failure of the Court Packing Plan served as a learning experience for Roosevelt and increased the pressures on him as he tried to make difficult decisions in the future. The New Deal programs he implemented thereafter were more conservative and built upon consensus rather than conflict.