Where In The Constitution...

[QuadsOverQuads]

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Nope, you nailed it. If I were a libertarian, the "Court Packing Scheme" would be the single worst political event ever.

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I think you have to look at that event in context, however.

The court FDR locked horns with was HIGHLY activist, and had read into the 14th Amendment an absolute right for all employment relationships to be completely unregulated at both the state and the federal level (under the phrase of "liberty of contract", which they judicially inserted into the 14th Amendment via the "life, liberty and property" clause).

This was both legally invalid and extraodinarily irresponsible (given the context of the Great Depression and FDR's critical and necessary efforts to improve working conditions and wages in the United States).

The "court packing crisis" was a last ditch effort to rein in an extremist, activist court that was overstepping its constitutional authority in order to graft right-wing labor theories onto the United States Constitution.

FDR did the right thing, and the extremists finally backed down (although their progeny continue to shake their fists at FDR to this day).


q/q