1. #CourtPacking: On Feb 5, 1937, #FDR announced his #courtpacking plan to deal with a conservative Supreme Court that was acting as a super-legislature to overturn the desperately needed recovery acts that were attempting to save America from total economic collapse.
2. Congress' attempts to fix the economy were repeatedly stymied by the imposition of a judicial activist theory of "substantive due process" that created a right of contract that trumped all Constitutionally granted legislative power. By 1937, FDR had finally had
3. enough and announced his #courtpacking plan that would increase the number of #SCOTUS justices to as many as 15. The reaction was similar to what we are seeing from the Conservatives who this time seek to turn the US into an extremist white supremacist Christian theocracy.
4. In reaction to FDR’s threat, the Court's own political forces caused two Conservatives to switch sides and the issue of #courtpacking was avoided. Soon the economy recovered just in time to face the threat of global war brought on by the same white supremacist/fascist forces
5. that are the political foundation of the current GOP along with a belief that socially conservative Christianity should become the US state religion.
Most lawyers first study Constitutional Law in law school. Not me. I took it as an undergraduate at
Most lawyers first study Constitutional Law in law school. Not me. I took it as an undergraduate at
6. @UmassAmherst in my two-year whirlwind run to get the 120 credits needed for my long-delayed BA. Taught in the Socratic method by a renowned constitutional scholar, the class had few undergraduates, made up of mostly PhD and masters candidates.
7. Like most Con Law classes, it started with Judicial Review.
SCOTUS' power to overturn an act of Congress, known as the power of judicial review, is not in the Constitution. It was created out of whole cloth by a very clever judge. When I first read Marbury v Madison,
SCOTUS' power to overturn an act of Congress, known as the power of judicial review, is not in the Constitution. It was created out of whole cloth by a very clever judge. When I first read Marbury v Madison,
8. I thought it was nonsense. I viewed the power of judicial review by the SCOTUS over an act of Congress as just judge made-up gobbledygook. A power-grab by the political minority Federalists.
Under FDR's threat to pack the Court, in 1938, the #SCOTUS finally relented when two
Under FDR's threat to pack the Court, in 1938, the #SCOTUS finally relented when two
9. Conservatives switched sides. A criminal case came before the court to seek to overturn an act of Congress that criminalized selling adulterated milk. In the Caroline Products case, penned by another former @UmassAmherst student, the court
10. set forth the proper limit of judicial review in its famous footnote No 4 that has since been my guide.
Fun Fact: that justice, Harlan Fiske Stone, had to leave @UmassAmherst and head across town to @AmherstCollege after Stone and the dean got into fist-fight.
Fun Fact: that justice, Harlan Fiske Stone, had to leave @UmassAmherst and head across town to @AmherstCollege after Stone and the dean got into fist-fight.
11. I’m ashamed to say that has always endeared him to me. 😎
The use of the Court to take away rights is contrary to everything I believe about the exercise of legitimate judicial power. For those of us concerned about the fall of American liberty to an extremist
The use of the Court to take away rights is contrary to everything I believe about the exercise of legitimate judicial power. For those of us concerned about the fall of American liberty to an extremist
12. white supremacist based Christian theocracy, Congress still has the power to pass national reproductive rights legislation that removes the issue of abortion from the power of state legislatures to control. Just like adulterated milk.
13. @senatemajldr McConnell has been engaged in using rules to pack the court. Where was the outcry by the Conservatives when they were getting their way? Silence.
I believe in a political theory of the Court that predicted that, like the two justices in 1938, CJ Roberts would
I believe in a political theory of the Court that predicted that, like the two justices in 1938, CJ Roberts would
14. cross over and become part of a liberal majority. The hardcore theocratic Catholic ideologues like Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh are unlikely to switch.
So to protect First Amendment and the secular foundation of US Constitution, we must add justices and the Court
So to protect First Amendment and the secular foundation of US Constitution, we must add justices and the Court
15. as an un-elected political force will end. We are not going backwards on rights. That road is a one-way street towards increasing liberty that a court packed with Catholic ideologues would destroy. Mitch McConnel started the court packing and
16. @JoeBiden @KamalaHarris can end it. Once the @GOP confirms another Catholic religious extremist, the die will be cast. If the GOP wants to stop court packing, they must first stop packing the court. @POTUS @SenateGOP @senatemajldr @LindseyGrahamSC @SenTedCruz @TeamCornyn
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