Essay - Judicial Agenda of President Franklin D Roosevelt the Judicial Philosophy...

Judicial agenda of President Franklin D Roosevelt

The Judicial Philosophy and Agenda of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)

Especially in light of today's economic crisis, the reputation ***** the presidency of Franklin ***** Roosevelt is viewed as sacrosanct. However, Roosevelt's term in office was ridden with many controversies, particularly dur*****g the early days of his New Deal that have since been forgotten. One ***** the most contentious quests Roosevelt embarked upon ***** his attempt to expand or 'pack' the U.S. Supreme Court with new justices, when the elderly, conservative members of the Court proved unwilling uphold ***** constitutionality of critical aspects of his New Deal legislation. Because of the Supreme Court's intransience, FDR feared his entire social vision and ***** recovery program was going to be railroaded by unelected, old men in black ro*****s. Roosevelt's fundamental philosophy about the relationship of the executive branch and ***** judicial ***** was that the purpose of the government was to serve the people, and to pre***** the nation. If that meant overriding the U.S. Supreme Court, so be it—the executive branch was directly elected by the populace. In his Fireside Chat on the Reorganization of the Judiciary, March 9, 1*****37, Roosevelt said what was ********** dubbed his 'court packing plan' would "provide a reinvigor*****ted, liberal-minded judiciary necessary ***** furnish quicker and cheaper justice from bottom to top."

FDR was determined to bring the nation back from economic ruin. Many ***** wanted America ***** revert to *****tal socialism, and FDR feared the specter ***** radicalism, as manifest in Russia at the time. He also feared the foot-dragging of conservative Republicans who agreed with ***** former ***** Herbert Hoover's contention that the business cycle would correct itself. Even more so than President Obama today, when Roosevelt *****sumed the ***** in 1933, the nation was in an *****, political, and moral crisis. America was depressed ***** ***** the midst ***** a Great Depression. Thus Roosevelt initiated unprecedented government regulation over ***** economy. He devalued the dollar and placed American industries and agriculture under a system of controls, codes *****nd production quotas (Pusey 1958). But in 1935, Supreme Court declared one ***** the key features of FDR's alphabet soup of *****s, the National Recovery Administration (NRA)'s unconstitutional and Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes wrote a un*****nimous Supreme Court decision that effectively neutered the NRA and its Blue Eagle program (Pusey 1958). The ***** Eagle ***** a ***** seal of approval that went to any ***** that pledged support for the NRA (Lord 2003). Blue Eagle businesses had minimum wages, ceilings on hours and allowed workers the right ***** *****m unions ***** engage in collective barga*****ing. FDR encouraged consumers to only patronize Blue ***** businesses (Lord *****).

The case that struck down the NRA, in another interesting parallel with *****day involved food poisoning. A company was marketing diseased chicken in violation ***** the *****'s poultry code. Their lawyers contended only ***** Congress ***** no power to regulate local bus*****ess. The court used t***** case ***** invalidate the whole