Crisis of the Courts Under FDR

Crisis of the Courts Under FDR

Franklin Roosevelt and the US Supreme Court

Many Supreme Court Justices were appointed by previous presidents
The US Supreme Court kept striking down New Deal programs as unconstitutional

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FDR was frustrated with the US Superme Court

Multiple Choice

How many members serve on the US Supreme Court today?

• 3

• 5

• 9

• 15

-The Supreme Court has the final say on legal questions for the nation

-The court keeps the country accountable to the Constitution and interprets its meaning

​When there is a vacancy, a new Justice is appointed by the President, approved by the Senate and may keep their job for life!

What is the US Supreme Court?

Open Ended

How is the Supreme Court like a referee?

-Agricultural Adjustment Act

-NIRA National Industrial Recovery Act

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The Supreme Court ruled that some key New Deal programs were unconstitutional and exceeded the authority or the national government in the economy:

​FDR's Proposed Solution

"In 1937, Roosevelt introduced legislation designed to change the makeup of the Court. Roosevelt’s proposal would empower the president to appoint a new member whenever an incumbent justice, who had been acting as a judge for at least ten years, failed to retire at the age of seventy. This was designed to reduce the power of the conservatives on the Court, most of whom were already over seventy. The maximum number of justices would be set at fifteen, six more than the court consisted of at the time. In the following excerpt, President Roosevelt explains the Judicial Reorganization Bill of 1937." 

Drag and Drop

FDR's proposal would allow the president to add more justices to the court when existing members failed to retire at the age of​

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. The maximum number of justices would be ​

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Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

70

60

80

15

12

​Roosevelt explains...

"When I commenced to review the situation with the problem squarely before me, I came by a process of elimination to the conclusion that, short of amendments, the only method which was clearly constitutional, and would at the same time carry out other much needed reforms, was to infuse new blood into all our Courts. We must have men worthy and equipped to carry out impartial justice. But, at the same time, we must have Judges who will retain in the Courts the judicial functions of a court, and reject the legislative powers which the courts have today assumed. …

Drag and Drop

Roosevelt says that he is pursuing this path because a Constitutional Amendment would be much more difficult. Currently, federal judges serve for life according to the Constitution. To and add term limits or age limits, a constitutional amendment would require ​

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of Congress and ​

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of states to approve.

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

2/3

3/4

3/5

9/10

4/5

1/2

FDR explains...

"That plan has two chief purposes. By bringing into the judicial system a steady and continuing stream of new and younger blood, I hope, first, to make the administration of all Federal justice speedier and, therefore, less costly; secondly, to bring to the decision of social and economic problems younger men who have had personal experience and contact with modern facts and circumstances under which average men have to live and work. This plan will save our national Constitution from hardening of the judicial arteries." -FDR, Fireside Chat, 1937

Multiple Choice

President Roosevelt says this change is necessary because....

• The current Supreme Court is not able to make decisions on important issues

• The court has been struggling with tie-votes

• The current Supreme Court justices are out-of-touch with modern problems

• The Supreme Court Justices have asked the president for more help

Multiple Choice

What is this cartoon expressing about FDR's proposal?

• The current justices support the president's policies

• FDR wants to diversify the Supreme Court

• FDR is just trying to appoint justices who will agree with him

Reaction of Congress

Within five weeks of the President’s announcement, the “court-packing plan,” as it came to be known, was heading toward a dead-end in the Senate. By June 1937, the Judiciary Committee had sent a report with a negative recommendation to the full Senate. “The bill is an invasion of judicial power such as has never before been attempted in this country. . . .  It is essential to the continuance of our constitutional democracy that the judiciary be completely independent of both the executive and legislative branches of the government,” the report read.

Its conclusion was even more direct: “It is a measure which should be so emphatically rejected that its parallel will never again be presented to the free representatives of the free people of America.”

Multiple Choice

Congress rejected the president's proposal because for the following reasons except for....

• it interfered with the independence/ neutrality of the court

• it would lead to a break down of the balance of powers between the three branches of government

• it would harm the democratic process and Constitutional order

• It would increase the power and influence of the Supreme Court

Impact:

​The Supreme Court keeps its 9-member structure

Since there were no term limits on presidents at this time, FDR was elected 4 times!
"In the end, President Roosevelt outlasted seven of the nine justices who sat on the bench in 1937" -www.constitutioncenter.org

• Justice Thomas, 75

• Justice Alito, 73

• Justice Sotomayor, 69

• Chief Justice Roberts, 68

• Justice Kagan, 63

• Justice Kavanaugh, 58

• Justice Gorsuch, 55

• Justice Jackson, 52

• Justice Barrett, 51

​Longest serving of current justices:
Clarence Thomas ...31 years

​Current Supreme Court:

New controversies

-In Feb 2016, Justice Scalia died. The Senate refused to consider a new appointment to the court by President Obama, who had 11 months left in his presidency.
-When Trump was elected, he filled this vacancy on the court, as well as two others during his four years as president, including one in the final few months of his presidency (3 total)
-Some suggested Biden should consider "packing the court" adding new members
-A Constitutional Amendment could still be proposed limiting terms or ages of justices, but Amendments are very hard to pass

Poll

Supreme Court decisions affect the functions of the government and the everyday lives of Americans.

What do you think?

• The membership numbers and lifetime service of Supreme Court Justices should be preserved

• More Justices should be added to the Supreme Court

• An age limit should be imposed through an amendment

• A term limit (years of service) should be imposed through an amendment