Examples Of Court Packinging

Court packing is that act of stacking the courts with members of your own party in order to ensure that the vote of the court will always be in your favor. Encouraged by the triumphs of his first term in office, FDR became over zealous and aggressively campaigned for his power oriented court packing plan, ultimately causing the greatest failure of his second term. Towards the end of his second term, FDR was on a mission to get his more liberal legislation, the New Deal, passed. However, the Supreme Court was holding him back. Most of the court members at this point in time were strict conservatives who left no wiggle room between the lines of the constitution. For this reason, they kept deeming his proposed laws unconstitutional and with three unanimous decisions, the court foiled the New Deal. President
His solution, simply put, was exactly what was previously defined as court packing. His plan suggested that for every justice over the
The court was clearly divided in its views. Four of the justices, dubbed “Four Horsemen” were extreme right wing conservatives. It was these judges who shut down Roosevelt’s precious New Deal. Three other justices were extreme left wing liberals and they were the ones who wanted to give the New Deal a shot. There were two moderate judges, but one would frequently vote with the liberals leaving the last to break the tie.3 By putting more justices on the court, the court wouldn’t be as divided and the votes would be more unanimous. As a result of his proposition, the court changed many its values in order to gain approval and get public to oppose FDR’s plan, but President Roosevelt feared the court would just as easily reverse itself again once the pressure was