Existing comment:
Roosevelt's Court-Packing Plan of 1937:
When Roosevelt became president in 1933, he immediately confronted the overwhelming challenge of the Great Depression with a series of economic reforms known collectively as the New Deal. However, a divided Supreme Court soon struck down several important New Deal programs that crippled Roosevelt's efforts. After he was reelected in 1936, a frustrated Roosevelt fought back.
In February 1937, he boldly proposed appointing as many as six new (presumably more friendly) Justices to the Court. Key among Roosevelt's reasons was that the Court was behind in its work, but Hughes deftly demonstrated that was not the case. Roosevelt's proposal, now popularly known as the Court-Packing Plan, was ultimately unsuccessful. |