FDR faced the issue of a Supreme Court determined to rule for the corporations and not the people. But he found a way around it. We can do what he did too! Step one is for us: make sure we VOTE OUT EVERY GOP politician at every level every time we vote. The GOP deserves to be completely rebuked by all American citizens.
There is NO LAW stating it has to be 9 JUSTICES! It can be 11 or 15 just as easy as 9. It is up to the Congress. So we have to win in Congress to make this move to help the working people of the USA. The GOP has forced us to do this with their heartless ramrodding of laws and tax breaks for the rich that the majority of Americans do not want. And they did it first, so don’t be sorry.
FDR and his Supreme Court
The “Four Horsemen” was the nickname given to four conservative members of the US Supreme Court during the 1932–1937 terms. They consistently opposed the New Deal agendas of President Franklin Roosevelt. They were opposed by the more liberal “Three Musketeers”. Chief Justices Charles Hughes and Justice Owen Roberts controlled the balance, making the nine.
In the 1935 term, the Four Horsemen, together with Roberts and Hughes, voided the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 along with the Federal Farm Bankruptcy Act, the Railroad Act, and the Coal Mining Act. Americans were suffering from the Depression and needed the help FDR wanted to create.
The result of this dynamic was a steady drift towards crisis with the Court. The 1935 SCOTUS was labeled by Justice Stone as “one of the most disastrous courts in US history”. New Dealers decried the Court’s actions promoted an “economic dictatorship”.
It was the Horsemen striking down FDR’s New Deal legislation that led FDR to announce a unique court-packing scheme, a proposal made in February 1937 to just appoint more Justices in order to change the composition of the Court. There was (and still is) nothing in the Constitution that says it has to be nine justices. Soon after FDR’s strategy was announced, it was rendered unnecessary when Justice Roberts, who had supported the Four Horsemen on several decisions during the 1935-36 term, sided with the Three Musketeers in a landmark minimum wage case in March 1937. The court balance literally changed in under 30 days – and America was saved.
FDR was a warrior, willing to do think outside-the-box to fight for democracy. FDR’s creative strategy made the Four Horsemen’s union seem doomed, and they buckled to public pressure. That lesson must be re-learned right now.
We have to begin to tell the GOP and ourselves that American Democracy will prevail regardless of how the SCOTUS appointment goes – or does not go. If we take back both houses, we can make it ten or even 15 justices. Nine is not in the Constitution. It’s totally up to Congress! Welcome back Merritt Garland! And if it takes FDR’s court-packing idea to reset democracy, we should start talking about that now.
Spread this memo around in your own way, please. It’s a bit of a history lesson, but it teaches us what has been necessary to defend democracy and that what we are experiencing today is not really new.
Also, note. Though the Four Horsemen ultimately broke ranks, they did so only after FDR made it clear he would pack the court to defend democracy. That’s when they realized they were wasting their time. And that’s when they quit. The same can happen now. The GOP must be made to know this – they cannot overrule the will of the American majority.
So let’s start talking about ten and even fifteen justices if the GOP is bent on ramming its unpopular agendas down our throats.
Joseph Aronesty
7/2/18, 9/18/20
THE ENGLISH CODE 