initiatives to rescue America from twenty years of Republican maladministration , the Four Horsemen were invariably joined by one of the other justices to strike down New Deal legislation that attempted to address unemployment and poverty , no matter how popular it was .
The Four Horseman claimed to be originalists (“ strict constructionists ” was the term of the day ) who somehow could read the Founders ’ intent from the Constitution ; like the Republican justices on today ’ s Court , they flagrantly disregarded the historical reality that the Founders were almost never of a single mind .
Interpretations from that era ’ s justices didn ’ t even honestly reflect the Constitution ’ s framers ’ 18th-century colonial understanding of the world ; they reflected a 19th-century industrialist perspective steeped in social Darwinism . They pushed for “ survival of the fittest ” economics along with pseudoscientific rationales for racism and sexism .
Ideologically , those four justices were the predecessors of conservative ideologues on today ’ s Supreme Court such as Thomas , Roberts , Gorsuch , Kavanaugh , Barrett , and Alito . Economically , they embraced laissez-faire economics and rejected any federal powers that were not explicitly granted by the U . S . Constitution .
For 40 years during the prior Lochner era , the Court had struck down dozens of state laws protecting workers , including women and children . During the period between 1897 and 1929 , the Court was ruling largely with the booming industrialist economy and saw the labor movement as disruptive rather than positive .
However , with the onset of the Great Depression , those industrialists lost the popular support they had enjoyed in the aftermath of the Haymarket bombing , but , like today , the radically conservative Supreme Court had not caught up with popular opinion .
In 1935 , the Court ruled that both FDR ’ s Agricultural Adjustment Act and the National Industrial Recovery Act were unconstitutional . The rulings gutted Roosevelt ’ s New Deal legislation .
The Agricultural Adjustment Act had passed in 1933 with 73 percent of the House of Representatives voting for it . The bill passed the Senate with 64 percent of the Senate voting for it . After it was struck down , William Leuchtenburg writes for Smithsonian magazine :
“ Many farmers were incensed . On the night following [ Justice Owen ] Roberts ’ opinion , a passerby in Ames , Iowa , discovered life-size effigies of the six majority opinion justices hanged by the side of a road .”
The National Industrial Recovery Act , with its famous “ Blue Eagle ” logo , had likewise passed with 80 percent of the House voting for it and 70 percent of senators voting for it .
When the Supreme Court used its power of judicial review to overturn these laws , it wasn ’ t viewed just as an assault on FDR ’ s New Deal ; it was , in the opinion of many
Americans ( and FDR himself ), an assault on the very basis of our democratic republic .
But they were federal laws , and supporters of the Court ’ s decisions argued that the laws in question were not in the realm of the federal government . If those laws were passed by states , supporters of the Court argued , the Supreme Court would allow them to stand as constitutional .
Then , shortly before Roosevelt was reelected in 1936 , the Court struck down a New York state law that established a minimum wage for women and children in Morehead v . New York ex rel . Tipaldo . The pendulum of popular opinion swung against the Court almost overnight . One Republican newspaper in New York declared its opposition to the ruling :
“ The law that would jail any laundryman for having an underfed horse should jail him for having an underfed girl employee .”
And , as historian David B . Woolner , author of The Last 100 Days : FDR at War and at Peace , noted :
Over . . . 13 months , the court struck down more pieces of legislation than at any other time in U . S . history .”
In 1937 , the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act were on their way to the Court . Considering how the Four Horsemen had ruled during FDR ’ s first term , the president knew that he needed to do something quickly or risk losing both pieces of legislation .
If the Court overturned both acts , the New Deal would be dead and America might slide back into depression .
With the New Deal and America ’ s future as a democratic republic on the line , Roosevelt went on the attack . On February 5 , 1937 , just months after his landslide reelection , he announced his plan .
Roosevelt asked Congress for the authority to appoint one justice for each justice over 70 who would not retire . The justices on the Court could remain , but each would be called “ justice emeritus ” and collectively they would have only one single vote .
In 1937 , the average life expectancy for men in the United States was only 58 years . The average age of the Supreme Court justices at the time was 71 years old , and six of the justices were 70 years or older . A book mocking the Court , called The Nine Old Men , “ was rapidly moving up the bestseller lists .”
Roosevelt ’ s plan took advantage of the widespread public opinion that the age of the justices was negatively affecting the Court ’ s decision-making along with the Court ’ s ability to quickly rule on cases .
FDR directly called into question the “ capacity of the judges themselves ” to dispose of the growing number of cases facing federal courts . The United States ’ population had nearly doubled between 1900 and 1936 , and the number of cases facing federal court dockets had exploded . Citizens were waiting longer and longer to go in front of older and older judges .
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