Thanks to the Federal Depository Library Program exchange network the Thurgood Marshall Law Library now owns a full set of the official 1937 Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on S. 1392 (1936): Reorganization of the Federal Judiciary.
While mundane in appearance – the documents are bound in the typical dull brown Government Printing Office style paper - the hearings tell the story of a key moment in the history of the United States Supreme Court and in the Court’s relationship with the Executive Branch. The publications are indicative of the important historical materials that make up the library’s government documents collection. For more about the library’s government documents collection contact the library or visit the federal resources website.
Select resources on President Roosevelt’s efforts to pack the court:
Packing the court: the rise of judicial power and the coming crisis of the Supreme Court. James MacGregor Burns. New York: Penguin Press, 2009.
FDR v. the Constitution: the court-packing fight and the triumph of democracy. Burt Solomon. New York: Walker & Co., 2009.
The President and the Court: Reinterpreting the Court-packing Episode of 1937. Michael Nelson. Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 103, No. 2 (Summer, 1988), p. 267-293.
The Breakup of the Roosevelt Supreme Court: The Contribution of History and Biography. Robert Harrison. 2 Law & Hist. Rev. 165 (1984).
The 75th Congress and the legislative program of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
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