FDR vs. Trump: Court Packing & Presidential Power
HereS a breakdown of the provided text, focusing on its key points and arguments:
Main Topic: The history of “court packing” attempts in the United States, specifically focusing on FDR’s 1937 plan and drawing parallels to more recent events.
Key Points about FDR’s 1937 Court Packing Plan:
The Proposal: Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a plan to add more justices to the Supreme Court.the cartoon accompanying the text depicts this as Roosevelt attempting to manipulate the Court to align with his political agenda.
Failure: The plan was overwhelmingly defeated in the senate (70-20 vote to recommit the bill).
Political Backlash: The proposal was widely considered a major political misstep for Roosevelt. It led to attacks from both sides of the political spectrum, even from within his own party.
1938 Midterms: The failure of the court-packing plan is linked to significant losses for the Democratic Party in the 1938 midterm elections (72 House seats and 8 senate seats lost).
Debate over Impact: Historians debate whether the plan caused Chief Justice Roberts to shift his position on key cases, but there’s consensus that the political costs were ample.
Additional Information:
The text includes images:
A cartoon criticizing FDR’s plan.
A photograph of Donald Trump with Amy Coney Barrett,suggesting a comparison to FDR’s actions.
* The article references a book by Harvard University Press about Roosevelt’s failed purge of conservative incumbents.
Overall Argument: The text presents FDR’s court-packing attempt as a cautionary tale of overreach and the potential political consequences of trying to manipulate the judiciary. It sets the stage for a discussion of more recent attempts to influence the composition of the Supreme Court, as suggested by the second image.