Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt v. the Supreme Court

On April 27, Jeff Shesol discussed his new book, Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court. Shesol, former Speechwriter for President Bill Clinton, was joined by Walter Dellinger, former Acting Solicitor General. They were introduced by Andrés Martinez, Director of New America’s Bernard L. Schwartz Fellows Program.

Shesol’s riveting new book details the New Deal-era showdown between President Roosevelt and the Supreme Court and FDR’s ill-fated court-packing attempt. As Shesol noted, Roosevelt, in his 1932 campaign, knew that his plans for the nation would eventually run into resistance with the Supreme Court. In attacking Roosevelt’s new deal policies, the Supreme Court decided, for instance, that the spread of substantial labor conditions were not an evil; rather it was the natural outcome of competition. Roosevelt, Shesol said, saw this as “less than a science” and more of a political ideology.

Dellinger and Shesol explored why Roosevelt’s court-packing plan failed, and his argument that increasing the number of Justices was about efficiency—an argument disproved by the press. He emphasized the pair of decisions—one upholding a state minimum wage law, the other the National Labor Relations Act (or Wagner Act)—that cut the legs out from under the court-packing plan. While Roosevelt would say he lost the battle but won the war, records have since shown that the decision to uphold the minimum wage law occurred before Roosevelt’s court packing plan was announced. Shesol and Dellinger also discussed the vacancy on the court left by Justice Stevens.

Participants

featured speakers
Jeff Shesol
Author, Supreme Power
Former Speech Writer, President Bill Clinton

Walter Dellinger
Acting Solicitor General, 1996-97 Term of the U.S. Supreme Court
Chair, Appellate Practice, O’Melveny & Myers LLP