FDR’s Court-Packing Attempt A colossal fail when Democrats were principled. American Spectator, Sep 22, 2020, Mark Hyman
A brouhaha has erupted over President Donald Trump’s decision to forward a Supreme Court justice nominee to the Senate for confirmation. Democrats have threatened to pack the court if Democrats capture both the White House and the Senate in November. This would be the second such attempt in that past century. Eight decades ago, Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt attempted to pack the Supreme Court in retaliation for justices unanimously finding many of his programs unconstitutional.
When Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, he was joined by a super-majority of Democrats in each chamber of Congress. Democrats (including Farm-Labor Party and Progressive Representatives who caucused with the Democratic Party) held a 60–36 advantage in the Senate and an even more stunning 318–117 majority in the House from 1933–1935. Two years later, Democratic majorities increased to 70–25 in the Senate and 332–103 in the House.
These super-majorities made it very easy to enact the many programs associated with Roosevelt’s New Deal. Roosevelt’s theory, endorsed by Democratic majorities in Congress, was that government should be managing the economy instead of the free market, and that there should be a centralization of power in the presidency. The executive branch made proposals, which the legislative branch passed without any hesitation. However, the third branch of government also had a say.
The Supreme Court faced an astonishing number of court challenges to Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. The high court ruled many of these programs unconstitutional. On May 27, 1935, the Supreme Court struck down Roosevelt’s key construct, the National Industrial Recovery Act, on a day some referred to as “Black Monday.†It was not even a squeaker of a case. The court unanimously declared unconstitutional “not just the program but its entire system of minimum wages, maximum hours, and workers’ rights.â€
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