FDR Was Right to Propose Enlarging the Court

[Nevilledog]

https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/177927


Franklin Roosevelt rarely made political mistakes. But on February 5, 1937, he made one of the great blunders of his administration when he sent a message to Congress seeking a reorganization of the federal judiciary. Roosevelt sought to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court, up to a total of fifteen, if justices over seventy years of age refused to retire. For every such non-retiring justice, the president would be permitted to appoint a new justice—potentially six new positions.

FDR was right when he asked for the authority; his mistake was not talking directly about why the expansion was needed. He argued that the courts were not effectively handling increasingly overcrowded dockets and that many judges, taking advantage of life tenure, were staying on the bench too long. “This brings forward the question of aged or infirm judges,” Roosevelt wrote Congress, “a subject of delicacy and yet one which requires frank discussion.”

These came across as sham arguments, and the president thereby lost credibility. The public knew right away that court efficiency and age were not the problems. The problem was the Supreme Court was trying its best to undo all the badly needed legislation passed under the New Deal to address the deepest depression the country had ever known.

FDR feared this conservative reaction—the drive to negate the New Deal—was about to get worse, even though he had just scored one of the greatest presidential election landslides in history in 1936.

What the president knew was that as prosperity returned the need for reform would wane and the accomplishments of the New Deal were at risk. As Stanford historian David M. Kennedy noted in his Oxford history, Freedom from Fear, the chief danger to the New Deal came from the Supreme Court. “Most ominous,” Kennedy wrote, “the threat of judicial nullification loomed over virtually every New Deal measure thus far enacted. The Supreme Court had already gutted many of the reform initiatives of the Hundred Days, notably NRA (National Recovery Act) and AAA (Agriculture Adjustment Act).”

*snip*

[SheltieLover]

1. I see Joe as new FDR!

[Sherman A1]

2. I have thought the potential is there for him to be

we will see how it shakes out.

[Sherman A1]

3. The courts need to be expanded

The nation has grown significantly since the numbers were established in the 1800s it is time to grow to be more responsive to the nation.

[walkingman]

4. We were robbed of two justices and there have to be consequences. IF we do nothing

it is a clear signal that the GOP can get away with anything. The Trump years have shown they have no morals, no patriotism, and no ethics. No justice, no peace!!!

[Fiendish Thingy]

5. It will be up to us to hold their feet to the fire. Nt

[appalachiablue]

6. 200+ federal judges have been pushed thru in Trump's admin.