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| Franklin Roosevelt's Proposal for Reforming the Supreme Court: 168 Days of National Debate |
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Author: Nancy Sinclair, Sparrows Point High School, Baltimore County Public Schools
Grade Level: High
Duration: 1-2 periods |
Overview:
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Despite the dire conditions of the Great Depression of the 1930s, Franklin D.
Roosevelt was faced with several legal and political obstacles to the passage
of the New Deal. In response to a conservative Supreme Court that overturned Congressional
legislation on such issues as child labor and minimum wage for women, FDR proposed
a Judicial Branch Reorganization act, which would "pack the courts"
with younger, New Deal-friendly justices. The proposal backfired, causing the
ire of Southern Democrats and citizens who held the Supreme Court as a sacred
institution. But although Roosevelt's proposal failed, a judicial revolution
followed when the Supreme Court itself decided to defer to Congress on matters
of socioeconomic reform, and passed FDR's New Deal programs.
By analyzing the primary sources and interest groups involved, students will begin
to grasp the complex legal struggles surrounding the fight against the Depression,
before World War Two arrived to alleviate America's economic problems. In
addition, the lesson provides insight into the agenda of Southern Democrats in
the early twentieth century, who defied FDR and fought to maintain white supremacy
in their states.
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