1 gen 1937 anni - FDR Court battle

Descrizione:

Roosevelt’s first setback in 1937 came when he surprised the nation by seeking fundamental changes to the Supreme Court. In 1935, the Court had struck down a series of New Deal measures by the narrow margin of 5 to 4. With the Wagner Act, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and Social Security all slated to come before the Court, the future of the New Deal rested in the hands of a few elderly, conservative-minded judges. To diminish their influence, the president proposed adding a new justice to the Court for every member over the age of seventy, a scheme that would have brought six new judges to the bench at the time the legislation was proposed. Roosevelt’s opponents protested that he was trying to “pack” the Court. After a long and bitter debate, Congress rejected FDR’s blatant attempt to alter the judiciary to his political advantage.


Though Roosevelt lost the court fight, he won the war over the constitutionality of the New Deal. Swayed in part by the president’s overwhelming electoral victory in the 1936 election, the Court upheld the Wagner and Social Security Acts. Moreover, a series of timely resignations allowed Roosevelt to reshape the Supreme Court after all. His new appointees — who included the long-serving liberal-leaning jurists Hugo Black, Felix Frankfurter, and William O. Douglas — viewed the Constitution as a “living document” that had to be interpreted in the light of present conditions.

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