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The Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, [1] frequently called the "court-packing plan", [2] was a legislative initiative proposed by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt to add more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court in order to obtain favorable rulings regarding New Deal legislation that the Court had ruled unconstitutional. [3]
Soon after this setback, however, Roosevelt obtained his first opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice when conservative Van Devanter retired. Roosevelt wanted the replacement to be a "thumping, evangelical New Dealer" who was reasonably young, confirmable by the Senate, and from a region of the country unrepresented on the court. [2]
In one of his notes from 1936, Hughes wrote that Roosevelt's re-election forced the court to depart from "its fortress in public opinion". [19] The "switch", together with the retirement of Justice Van Devanter at the end of the 1937 spring term, is often viewed as having contributed to the demise of Roosevelt's court reform bill.
One of the most significant events during the history of the Court was the tenure of Chief Justice John Marshall (1801 to 1835). In the landmark case Marbury v. Madison (1803), Marshall held that the Supreme Court could overturn a law passed by Congress if it violated the Constitution, legally cementing the power of judicial review.
FDR thought Americans were furious enough about the Supreme Court to approve of his scheme to pack it with new justices. He was wrong.
Roosevelt appointee William O. Douglas was the longest-serving Supreme Court justice in U.S. history. Roosevelt elevated sitting Justice Harlan F. Stone to Chief Justice of the United States . Florence Ellinwood Allen , appointed by Roosevelt to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit , was the first woman appointed to a ...
President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to expand the court in 1937. His proposal envisioned the appointment of one additional justice for each incumbent justice who reached the age of 70 years 6 months and refused retirement, up to a maximum bench of 15 justices.
This, together with the retirement of Van Devanter in June 1937 and his replacement by Hugo Black ended the Four Horsemen's domination of the court. [4] Black and Roosevelt considered the Four the "direct descendants of Darwin and Spencer." [4] Sutherland retired from the Court in 1938 and Butler died in 1939.