Court_Packing

Court Packing On February 5, 1937, with little to no warning, President Franklin D. Roosevelt surprised the nation by announcing a program that would later be known as his “court-packing scheme.” He proposed judicial reforms, drafting a bill that proposed a reorganization of the Supreme Court, which drew widespread complaints of packing the bench. His plan was not entirely new, as he stated in his “Fireside Chat on Reorganization of the Judiciary,” on March 9, 1937. He stated that, “Normally, every president appoints a large number of District and Circuit Court Judges and a few members of the Supreme Court. Until my first term, practically every President of the United States has appointed at least one member of the Supreme Court.” He explained that President Taft had appointed five members, President Wilson had appointed three, and President Harding had appointed four, including a Chief Justice. President Coolidge had appointed one justice, and President Hoover had appointed three, including a Chief Justice. His plan for reorganization was merely a revival of a plan suggested by Justice McReynolds, himself, when he was Attorney General of the United States. In his “Fireside Chat,” it appears court, president, american, supreme, roosevelt, courts, people, justice, appointed, congress, stated, plan, one, judicial, wanted, two, third, reorganization, mistake, justices, just, himself, constitution, believed, younger, work, united, themselves, states, proposed, power, packing, new, might, judiciary