July 22nd

On July 22nd, 1937, the United States Senate voted down a proposal to modify the composition of the Supreme Court, known popularly as the court-packing plan.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt had many ambitious plans to pull the United States out of the Great Depression. The Supreme Court, however, declared several programs unconstitutional. The Supreme Court prior to 1937 held that contracts were sacred. Any legislation to impose minimum wages, safe working conditions, or minimum ages to work were considered a violation of that right to contract. This time was known as the Lochner era after a famous case about working conditions (regulations lost). Property rights were also given high priority, making emergency farm mortgage programs impossible.

Roosevelt was also frustrated by the overturning of programs intended to regulate industries like coal and agriculture. Although these industries were clearly affected by interstate commerce, the Supreme Court view of when a commodity became interstate was very narrow. The Schechter decision made setting up legislative agencies very difficult. Roosevelt felt like he was being blocked at every turn.

In autumn 1933, Roosevelt started looking at how to go about reforming the court.

Up until this point, most of these decisions were justifiable under stare decisis, the common law tradition of deferring to precedent. Some, however, were reaching back to old cases that had since been overturned. Even this very conservative court was making law.

Roosevelt's eventual plan was to reform the court based on age. A perpetual complaint about the Supreme Court is how justices stay on too long. The original proposal was that for every justice that stayed on past the age of 70, another judge would be appointed. This younger justice would have a greater say in any decision.

There were other facets to the proposal, including one limiting the number of Supreme Court nominees to six. Other sections applied to lower courts and ways to ease their caseloads.

Reaction from the public was hostile. From this point on, the proposal never really gained much momentum. Nonetheless, the bill worked its way through the House and the Senate, including a few revisions.

Although Roosevelt did not get his extra justices, in the long run he won the war. On March 29th, 1937, the Supreme Court handed down three decisions that made the New Deal possible, the famous Switch in Time that Saved Nine. Notable among these was Parrish v. West Coast Hotel, which allowed a minimum wage in Washington state. While these decisions would be a final nail in the court packing plan coffin, Roosevelt did get his ultimate goal of a less obstructionist Supreme Court.

On July 22nd, the Senate rejected the bill, sending it back to strip all court-packing provisions. The plan was effectively dead.

Ironically, shortly after this the Court finally started to turn over. Roosevelt soon had plenty of appointments to fill. It's difficult to judge whether Roosevelt would have gotten the same results with more patience. But no President since has seriously contemplated reforming the Supreme Court.