Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Court Packing" Plan
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "New Deal" - a series of economic programs designed to counter the devastating effects of the Great Depression - faced many challenges in the courts. During President Roosevelt's first term in office, the Supreme Court struck down several provisions and statutes included in New Deal programs, including the National Industrial Recovery Act, the Railroad Retirement Act, and the Agricultural Adjustment Act.
|To counter the impact of the Court's decisions on the New Deal reforms, President Roosevelt proposed legislation that would have altered the makeup of the Supreme Court. The Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937, which provided for broad reform of the federal judicial system, allowed President Roosevelt to appoint an additional member to the Supreme Court for every sitting justice over the age of 70, which would have resulted in a total of six new justices at the time the bill was introduced. Despite the fact that the Constitution does not limit the size of the Supreme Court, the legislation immediately came under sharp criticism from legislators, bar associations, and the public.
On March 10, 1937, the Senate Judiciary Committee held the first hearings on the Judiciary Reorganization Bill.
|Chairman Henry Ashurst of Arizona presided over the hearings, which included testimony from Attorney General Homer Cummings on behalf of the Roosevelt administration. President Roosevelt's proposed legislation suffered a setback when the Senate Judiciary Committee failed to favorably report the legislation out of committee. Votes to report the bill to the full Senate "favorably" and "without recommendation" were unsuccessful. Finally, in a 10-to-8 vote, the Committee reported the legislation "adversely."
|The Senate began debating the measure on July 2, 1937. The Roosevelt administration was dealt another setback, however, when, less than two weeks into the vigorous floor debate, Senate Majority Leader Joseph T. Robinson - a principal support of the legislation - died of a heart attack. The loss of Robinson dashed the administration's hopes of successful passage of the original legislation. On July 22, 1937, the full Senate voted to send the bill back to the Senate Judiciary Committee where many of the provisions, including providing for additional justices to the Supreme Court, were eventually stripped. Finally, on August 26, 1937, the Senate passed an amended version of the Judiciary Reorganization Bill which did not include a provision to increase the number of Supreme Court justices.|
President Roosevelt would eventually appoint eight justices to the Court during his 12 years in office.
"Democrats Divide in Committee Poll," The New York Times, May 19, 1937.
Catledge, Turner. "A Full Surrender," The New York Times, July 23, 1937
Martin, Liam. "The Court-Packing Debacle of 1937," American Chronicle, June 24, 2007
McKenna, Marian C. Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Constitutional War: The Court-Packing Crisis of 1937. New York, NY: Fordham University Press.