10 Myths About FDR and The Great Depression
9. The Courts Concurred with FDR’s Radical Redefining of the Role of Government
FDR radically expanded the scope and size of government to levels far surpassing anything envisioned by our founding fathers, or allowed by the Constitution. Liberals will point to Supreme Court rulings which upheld Roosevelt’s actions and interpretation of the law. But that’s not the whole story. FDR actually threatened the Court and bullied them to get his way. He began garnering support to add numerous justices to the Court. Basically, he wanted to use his power to appoint justices and Democratic control of Congress to ram through as many justices as necessary to override the sitting justice’s votes. He was going to stack the Court with justices friendly to his cause in order to get around those that had been duly appointed. The Court realized that this would forever ruin the Supreme Court and render the body nothing more than a rubber stamp for the president. They subsequently conceded to him the powers he desired.
