General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Do you want a president who fights like hell for the 99%? [View all]merrily
(45,251 posts)His goal was not to increase the size of the SCOTUS just for the sake of having more Supremes. His goal was to get the SCOTUS to stop striking down New Deal legislation so he and Congress could save the country from the toilet.
After he announced that he would be increasing the size of the court, the SCOTUS did a 180 degree turn and expanded the scope of the commerce clause to an incredible degree. So, FDR got exactly what he wanted.
BTW, the term "court packing" is unnecessarily pejorative. The Constitution allows increases in the size of the Court. The size had been increased a couple of times before FDR and no one calls those increases "court packing."
I suspect Republicans of FDRs day came up with that libelous label. No reason for Democrats who admire FDR-or should--to keep using it. He saved the fucking country.