Show I I Here Is President Roosevelt's Own Story Tells of Fight for Supreme Court Reform o t l b T r t yr r The nine justices that constituted the Supreme court at the time Feb 5 1937 President Roosevelt first made madeus his us proposals for changing the high tribunals tribunal's organization They are left to right front row Louis D. D D Brandeis I Willis Van Devanter Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes James C. C and George Sutherland Back row left to right Owen J. J Roberts Pierce Butler Harlan F. F Stone and Benjamin N. N N Cardozo By special arrangement with Colliers Collier's Weekly and Western Newspaper per Union this newspaper presents in condensed form a series of four articles by President Roosevelt currently appearing in that magazine The articles are taken from the Presidents President's newly written introductions to forthcoming volumes of his state papers The first condensed below contains the Presidents President's own story of the fight for Supreme court reform THE FIGHT GOES ON The tiThe Constitution Prevails By Franklin D D. D Roosevelt Copyright 1941 by Franklin D. D Roosevelt dt tT and by The Collier Crowell-Collier r K m Publishing P N Company Compan HIS was the year of the fa fa- famous famous fa- fa faTI TI THIS Supreme court fight fight- fight 1937 This was the year y ar which marked a definite turning point in inthe inthe the he history of f the United States For this his was the year which was to de de- determine determine de- de determine termine whether the kind of govern govern- government government government ment which the people of the United States had voted for in 1932 1934 and 1936 was to be permitted by the Supreme court to function If it had lad not been permitted to function as a democracy it is my reasoned opinion that there would have been great danger that it might have been een ultimately compelled to give way to some alien type of govern govern- government ment ment-in ment hi the vain hope that the new form orm of government might be able to o give the average men and women the he protection and operative co-operative as as- assistance assistance assistance which they had the right to expect For that reason I regard the effort initiated by the message on the Fed Fed- Federal Federal Federal eral Judiciary of February 5 1937 and the immediate results of it as among the most important domes- domes domestic tic ic achievements of my first two t terms erms in office For two decades the Supreme I court of the United States had been successfully thwarting the common will of the overwhelming majority of the American people and had been seen diverting the functions and philosophy of government into chan- chan channels channels nels which ran c counter u ter to 10 t 5 the th thought and objectives of progressive progressive progressive sive opinions throughout the mod mod- modern modern modern ern civilized world The big choice before the Amer Amer- American American ican icari people p pl in 1932 had been to de- de determine determine termine whether they should con con- continue continue continue the theold old type of f administration or install a new one one definitely definitely com com- committed committed committed to the proposition that the federal government had not only the power but the duty to step in to meet with bold action the economic forces at play The people had made their choice in 1932 and had emphasized it in 1934 1 By the time of the election of 1936 however it had become clear that this new concept of government and of its its' relation to economic and social problems was in danger of complete frustration And the road ahead for further or even different effective action to meet these problems problems problems lems seemed to be completely blocked For a dead hand was being laid upon pon this whole program of progress ress to ress-to to stay it all It was the hand of the Supreme Court of the United States The executive e and legislative branches of the government had gone into action immediately in 1933 But they soon found that athwart the path of progress along which they were moving a majority of the Supreme Court of the United States was erecting a barrier which it was impossible to climb over under or around True not everything had been destroyed by judicial fiat But the whole question of the power of the federal government to handle these problems in an effective de de- decisive decisive de- de decisive way had been placed not only in doubt but in positive jeopardy In the struggle between the political political political ical power of the people as ex ex- expressed expressed ex- ex expressed pressed by their representatives and the economic power of private prop prop- property property property erty the Supreme court in the gen gen- generation generation generation preceding the spring of 1937 seemed almost invariably to lean toward the latter NOTABLE EVENT EVENTA A series of articles by the Pres Pres- President President President ident of the United States is a notable event in journalism Sel Sel- Seldom Seldom Sel- Sel Seldom dom has any newspaper had an opportunity to publish anything under the name of any President While the present series of arti arti- articles articles articles cles is of historical rather than of current moment it is a notable contribution both to history and journalism This newspaper pub pub- publishes publishes publishes lishes the articles without bias as asto asto asto to the opinions contained in them And the judicial process was be be- being being being ing more and more frequently ex ex- exercised exercised ex- ex exercised by the court to lay low the efforts of government to meet the pressing needs of the times in which it was functioning In the first 70 years of our constitutional history the court invalidated only two acts of the congress in the next 70 years it nullified 58 Between 1920 and 1930 it declared 19 federal statutes unconstitutional To climax this growth the court in the three years beginning in October 1933 set aside 12 statutes five of which occurred in a single court year October 1935 I have already discussed in the Introduction to the the 1935 volume the themore more important Supreme court cases involving New Deal legisla legisla- tion Recapitulation will show how hopeless it looked by the time I started the so-called so Supreme court fight on February 5 1937 that any really effective legislative program could withstand the assaults being made by the judicial branch of the government The first major blow had come in January 1935 Our efforts to re re- remove remove re- re remove move chaos from the third largest industry in the country petroleum country petroleum were struck down The oil- oil producing states had been unable individually to meet the problems which came from overproduction of oil wasteful competition and con con- consequent consequent consequent sequent bankruptcy prices Only the national government could save the industry It proceeded to try to do it Pursuant to congressional statute stat de it prescribed quotas of oil for each producing oil-producing state and permitted each state to prescribe fair quotas for each well within its boundaries It then prohibited any interstate shipments of hot oil that is oil produced in excess of these quotas The states alone could themselves never have prevented these inter inter- interstate interstate interstate state shipments The decision of the court however was that the statute was unconstitutional as a delegation of legislative power to the President This was the first time that a fed fed- federal federal federal eral statute had ever been nullified on such a ground But unfortunate unfortunate- unfortunately ly it was not to be the last This new doctrine nowhere doctrine nowhere specifically mentioned in the Constitution Constitution add add added ed much doubt and perplexity to framing all future legislation Some delegation is of course necessary if government is to function at all But neither from the words of the Constitution nor from the mouth of the court came any standards to fix the amount of delegation per per- The next decisions were on the question of the governments government's power to abrogate gold clauses in private and public contracts These decisions deci deci- decisions decisions therefore involved the entire control by the congress of the cur cur- currency currency currency rency of the United States and the whole gold and silver policy of the duly elected government This pol pol- policy policy policy icy was to a great extent the basis of the recovery program the program the means used to bring order out of chaos in foreign exchange and domestic currency and to remake the unfair debt structure then in existence It Itcan Itcan Itcan can well be said that in these decisions deci deci- decisions decisions the court was passing on the validity of the whole American economy which had been accepted by the business and financial world almost universally since the enact enact- enactment enactment enactment ment of the statute a year and a half earlier and which was then in process of adaptation to the chang chang- changing changing changing ing world economy The congressional action was sus sus- sustained sustained sustained as to private contracts contracts but but only by a five to four vote It was held invalid as to public obligations but by technical legalistic reasoning the disastrous results of such a hold hold- holding holding holding ing vere were avoided by a conclusion that no actual damage had been proved Even as to this conclusion four of the nine justices disagreed By the slim margin of one human being this very foundation n of our recovery had been upheld What a slim thread on which to hang the fate of a nation Then came all in one day May I 27 1935 a unanimous decision that the Lemke Frazier-Lemke act designed to help farm mortgagors was unconstitutional unconstitutional unconstitutional a unanimous decision that the President could not remove a federal trade commissioner al al- although although although though in an earlier case in 1926 the court had stated that the Executive Executive Executive tive could remove any officer he could appoint even one with quasi- quasi judicial powers and a unanimous decision dec sion that the National Industrial Recovery act was unconstitutional This last decision was the most far It again invoked the shadowy doctrine of unlawful delegation of powers to the tive If the court had stopped here its job would have have been done and the damage would not have been wholly irreparable But it went far far- farther farther farther ther and held that the statute and the making code-making power under it were not a valid exercise of the power ol of the congress to regulate interstate commerce This broad sweeping as as- assertion assertion assertion immediately cast a long shadow of doubt over everything which we had been doing and were expecting to do for the benefit ol of U. U S. S citizens through the federal control of interstate commerce This shadow of doubt became more definite and certain when the court on January 6 6 1936 by a vote of six to three invalidated the agri agri- agricultural agricultural agricultural cultural adjustment program The statute thus set aside had been enacted in 1933 and had been absolutely absolutely absolutely essential to the survival of agriculture in the panic of that year The states alone were powerless by themselves to cope with the reduced farm income with the prevailing bankruptcy prices for farm products with the burdensome surpluses and overproduction of farm ties If one state tried by itself the adjoining state could nullify its ef ef- forts Only the federal government could help help and and in 1933 it did al almost al- al almost almost most immediately The widespread beneficial results of our farm pro pro- program program program gram enacted to meet the agricultural agricultural tural crisis of 1933 are well-known well now Its benefits s extended not alone to the farmer they spread to all sections and to all groups throughout the land by furnishing the farmers with purchasing power with which they could buy industrial products and manufactures of all kinds But all this effort was destroyed The basis on which it was destroyed was even more disastrous in its implications im im- implications implications than the immediate deci deci- decision decision decision sion itself It was apparently set aside on the chief ground among others that overproduction of farm commodities and all the dire results of such overproduction were not matters natters of general welfare but pure pure- purely purely purely ly a local condition of purely local concern to the respective states To remedy this condition it was held the congress could not pay farmers for voluntary crop limita limita- limitation limitation limitation tion under the general welfare clause of the Constitution which Constitution which by its terms would seem clearly to give the congress power to tax and spend for the general welfare The three dissenting justices characterized the majority opinion as a tortured con con- construction construction construction of the Constitution and indicated how far reaching would be bethe bethe bethe the effects of this kind of decision a a decision which was not based upon legal reasoning at all but upon political and economic bias |