Franklin Roosevelt
In 1937, Franklin Roosevelt made his first Fireside Chat to the American people during his second term as President. In this chat, he argued that for the Nation to avoid "hopeless chaos," and that "national laws are needed…. to complete our program of Protection in time." 40 For Roosevelt, the power of Congress to pass these laws and his ability to execute them was dramatically, and dangerously, limited by the Supreme Court. By referencing the importance of time, he does not argue about the Court's right to interpret the law, but emphasizes instead that this process limits his ability to execute it.
More generally, Roosevelt exclaims: "The Courts… have cast doubts on the ability of the elected Congress to protect us against catastrophe by meeting squarely our modern social and economic conditions." By making special reference to the "elected Congress," Roosevelt contrasts the Court's position as a non-elected body. How, he seems to suggest, can the Court protect the People's if it does not represent them? Moreover, if they were "old" and had been appointed in many years past, how could they address "modern" problems?
In perhaps the most direct and remarkable criticism of the court, Roosevelt continued to say that in Marbury v. Madison in 1803, "the Court claimed the power to declare [Congressional laws] unconstitutional and did so declare it." 41 It is remarkable that Roosevelt, in his fireside address to the modern concerns of the country, would reference a case more than one-hundred years old. Still, Roosevelt considers this as the birth of judicial review and suggests that it is an "invented" power of the Court. He even refers at one point to judicial review as "judicial say-so."
In another colorful example, Roosevelt also characterized the Court as a "third house of Congress" and a "super-legislature." Judicial review, he argued, was their veto over legislation.
Ultimately, Roosevelt calls for "an action to save the Constitution from the Court and the Court from itself." The specific action is a recommendation to "infuse new blood into all our courts." 42 Roosevelt, then, does not argue that the right of judicial review should change. He argues for a change in the composition of the courts… not in their role.
It would appear that the question of whether the court should interpret the Constitution has nearly been erased from our collective memory. While Roosevelt believed the Court's monopoly on judging the constitutionality of laws was "created," he was no longer arguing along the lines of Jackson and Lincoln that it should not exist. His interpretation of the Constitution and the Court, then, was neither final nor authoritative.
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