Events
1936
Butler v. United States ruling
1937
Roosevelt initiates court-packing scheme
Roosevelt Recession begins
1939
Congress passes the Hatch Act
Key People
-
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
32nd
U.S. president; attempted to fill Supreme Court with like-minded
justices to ensure longevity of New Deal policies; brought on brief
economic recession
A Weakened New Deal
By 1935,
New Deal critics were becoming more numerous and vocal. Congressmen,
including even some Democrats, had overcome the initial panic and
were becoming more fiscally conservative as Franklin Delano
Roosevelt’s deficit spending soared. More important, aging, conservative
appointees dominated the Supreme Court and had begun to strike down
several key laws of the First New Deal.
In the 1935Schechter
v. United States ruling, for example, a majority
of justices declared that the National Recovery Act was unconstitutional.
They argued that the act gave too much power to the president and
was an attempt to control intrastate commerce. The following year,
justices also struck down the Agricultural Adjustment Administration
in Butler v. United States on the
grounds that it was unconstitutional and tried to exert federal
control of agricultural production.
Roosevelt’s Court-Packing Scheme
Roosevelt believed that the National Recovery Act and
the Agricultural Adjustment Administration were crucial
to reviving the American economy and feared that any more conservative Supreme
Court rulings would cripple or even kill New Deal policy entirely.
In 1937,
to prevent this from happening, the president petitioned Congress
to alter the makeup of the Supreme Court on the pretense that the
justices, old age was affecting their ability to work and concentrate.
Roosevelt asked for the power to appoint as many as six
new justices, bringing the total to fifteen, and to replace
justices over the age of seventy. The true aim of the request was
obvious: it would enable Roosevelt to effectively stack the deck
to ensure that only pro–New Dealers would sit on the Court.
The court-packing scheme backfired. Rather
than win over Democrats and New Dealers in Congress, Roosevelt shocked
supporters with his attempt at misusing his executive powers. The
president’s blatant disregard for the cherished separation of powers
stunned even the American people. Roosevelt repeatedly denied charges
that he was trying to bend the entire federal government to his
will and defended his belief that aging justices were often incapable
of performing their duties. The court-packing debate dragged on
for several months before Congress and Roosevelt reached a compromise. Congress
made minor reforms in the lower courts but left the Supreme Court
untouched.
Consequences of the Court-Packing Scheme
The court-packing scheme took a severe toll on
Roosevelt’s popularity and marked the beginning of the end of the
New Deal. Politicians and regular Americans alike were keenly aware
that the federal government under the tight control of a single
individual would be nothing more than a dictatorship, no matter
how benevolent or well intentioned the leader happened to be. Roosevelt’s
clumsy attempts to disguise his intentions had the effect only of
making him look guilty. As the public grew suspicious of “dictator”
Roosevelt, fellow Democrats in Congress began to vote more conservatively,
and the chances of any more significant New Deal legislation being
passed became slim.
Ironically, the court-packing scheme may have helped Roosevelt in
one way. Supreme Court Justice Owen Roberts, who had
notoriously struck down New Deal laws in the past, mysteriously
began to vote in favor of the Wagner Act and the Social Security
Act after Roosevelt announced his plan to replace six justices.
Historians are still uncertain as to why Roberts suddenly looked
favorably upon the New Deal, but few believe it was mere coincidence.
