Question

Why was Roosevelt upset when the Supreme Court started ruling parts of the New Deal unconstitutional?

Answer 1

Roosevelt was upset because the Court’s decisions were directly blocking his efforts to deal with the Great Depression. Key points:

- Several high‑profile New Deal laws were struck down (for example, the NIRA in Schechter Poultry and parts of the AAA), which threatened the core of his program for relief, recovery, and reform.
- Those rulings meant unelected justices were overturning laws passed by Congress and backed by the president and voters, which Roosevelt saw as frustrating the democratic will and slowing emergency action.
- He believed the Court’s conservative, narrow constitutional interpretations were out of step with the nation’s economic realities and were preventing the federal government from using needed regulatory powers.
- Because the decisions endangered the effectiveness and survival of the New Deal, Roosevelt responded politically (notably with his 1937 court‑reform “court‑packing” proposal) to try to change the Court’s balance.

In short: he felt the Supreme Court was undermining necessary crisis legislation and blocking his program to rescue the country.