Dimensions of Conflict in the Court-Packing Controversy in America 1936-1937

Abstract

1936 brought a lot more than the re-election of president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was also a year which brought a broad and radical challenge to the New Deal reform policies. American democracy demonstrated its com­plexity and unfinishedness. The conflict between FDR and the Supreme Court has many dimensions: institutional – conflict between the govern­ment (the president, Congress and the Administration) and the US Supre­me Court over the range of powers of each actor; political – regarding the accountability of political elites; socio-economic – regarding the direction of development of American democracy; philosophical – over the meaning of liberty; legal – regarding the separation of powers between the levels of government; personal – between persons and personalities represen­ting divergent visions of power; and historical – reviving the constitutional debates from the early republic. For some, the clash between FDR and the USSC touched the very essence of the representative democracy. After a year, the level of tensions subsided and all parties were scarred, yet the po­litical system as such demonstrated its resilience. Its outcome to these days serves as a pretext for deliberations about the relations between leaders and followers. Events in America may be useful for all countries where the auto­nomy of the judicial branch of government becomes a political issue.