The Four Horsemen
The four Supreme Court justices Pierce Butler, Clark McReynolds, George Sutherland, and Willis Van Devanter were given the nickname "Four Horseman" by the press. They were given this name because they were four conservative justices who voted on everything together and opposed Roosevelt's New Deal legislature program. The Four Horseman were opposed by Louis Brandeis, Benjamin Cardozo, and Harlan Stone who were known as the Three Musketeers while chief justice Charles Evans Hughes and Owen J. Roberts held the balance. Hughes supported the liberals more while Owen was often swayed towards the conservative side and gave them the majority vote. The Four Horsemen were bitterly apposed to the New Deal and would try to strike down Roosevelt's every attempt to pass new legislation. Roosevelt eventually got fed up with this and threatened to add in new justices and fill the Supreme Court with people who would support his New Deal program. This successfully shut up the Four Horseman and allowed Roosevelt to continue with his New Deal legislation program.
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| The Four Horseman |
Cool post. Thought I would just give some examples of how the Four Horseman shut down the New Deal:
ReplyDelete1. In 1935, the Four called the FDR’s Railroad Pension Act unconstituational.
2. Also in 1935, they ruled the FDR's NIRA (National Industrial Recovery Act) and his AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Administration) unconstitutional.
3. 1936- Outlawed the Federal Farm Bankruptcy Act (also FDR's)
These are just a few pieces of evidence showing opposition of the New Deal by the Four Horseman.
http://www.wnd.com/2011/01/246065/
To add onto Tal's point, after I did more research on the AAA I discovered that when the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional, it was one of the main reasons FDR began thinking up of his court packing scheme.
DeleteOh cool, I didn't know the justices opposed to the Four Horsemen were called the Three Musketeers. Great post, very helpful! Thanks Tal, too.
ReplyDeleteI also found out that when they found out about the Four Horsemen, the Three Musketeers would meet at Justice Brandeis's apartment to also coordinate their positions on a given issue.
I would just like to add that the court-packing scheme did play a very big part in the silencing of the conservative side of the Supreme Court, but the final nail in the coffin was the retirement of Willis Van Devanter. His replacement, Hugo Black, was a staunch supporter of the New Deal, breaking the conservatives' grip on verdicts.
ReplyDeleteRoosevelt's threatening to use his executive powers at this point is quite interesting, especially considering his usage of wartime powers later on. I wonder what would have happened had he needed to follow through with his threats. How would the Supreme Court look today if there were 15 judges? With 6 extra judges, the court would rotate more often. I'm not sure if this would lead to less stagnation within the court, or merely more dissenting opinions. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteWas the court-packing scheme even constitutional? I understand that the president is allowed to appoint supreme court justices but what about adding more to the picture? If so, how would he go about it, through Congress? I'm not very familiar with president and supreme court relations
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DeleteStephen, I was wondering the same thing. Constitutionality is, of course, open to debate, based on strict or loose construction. After searching several resources to see if any politician or justice officially declared his or her opinion on Roosevelt's proposal to add justices, I was unable to find anything. I did, however, learn interesting things about the court packing scheme. Since Roosevelt's New Deal policies were being struck down by the Supreme Court based on unconstitutionality time and time again, FDR, in February 1937, proposed to the executive power to expand the Supreme Court to up to 15 judges. Before this matter could be voted upon without outside influence, two justices swung to the liberal side and approved the New Deal's National Labor Relations Act and Social Security Act. There was no longer a need for Roosevelt's plan, so the legislation was struck down by the Senate in July with a definitive 70 to 22 repeal. My question, however, is what would've happened to the bill if the two judges hadn't appeased FDR? Did senators support FDR, and would the bill have passed?
ReplyDeleteSources:
Deletehttp://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/roosevelt-announces-court-packing-plan
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/fdr-presidential/